


it's truth or dare on the dance floor

by colorilluminates



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-04
Updated: 2014-12-31
Packaged: 2018-02-24 01:53:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 23,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2563937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/colorilluminates/pseuds/colorilluminates
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Dancing the cha-cha-cha… Oliver Queen and his partner Felicity Smoak.” </p><p>[Or the one where Oliver is a celebrity contestant on some alternate universe version of Dancing With The Stars, and Felicity's his professional dance partner. There's sparkly outfits, some fake kissing, some actual kissing, some bam chicka wow wow-ing, and a 98.9% chance they fall in love over the course of 12 weeks. Also dancing.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part I.

**Author's Note:**

> Because obviously.
> 
> First things first, this fic was my BABY this entire hiatus. The only reason I'm posting it now is because real life got in the way in the form of disconnected internet followed by a messed up laptop followed by... Well, laziness.
> 
> This is Part I. Part II is pretty much halfway done and should be up sometime later next week... That's when the rating gets jacked up and the... Ahem... 'bam chicka wow wow-ing' mentioned above happens.
> 
> Another thing I'm not entirely sure about is how stuff actually goes down behind the scenes of DWTS other than what we see on the show and what my delusional shipping-fueled trashbag of a mind likes to believe, so I ask that you suspend your beliefs just a smidge.
> 
> I had a ton of fun writing this fic, so I hope you enjoy!

Oliver Queen receives a phone call at 2:39 AM on a Wednesday when the crowd at his club was in full swing.

 _"Oliver, old friend, old buddy, old pal o' mine! How’re you doing?”_ Tommy Merlyn says, sounding much too chipper for the hour at which he was calling.

"Tommy, I'm kinda busy at the moment..." he replies, covering one ear to try and better hear his friend.

_"Well, I need you to get to a quiet place. This is urgent, life or death type business I have to discuss with you."_

Oliver's eyes widen at that and he pushes his way through the crowd as politely as he can. He makes his way to his office, the walls of which were able to muffle the pounding music at least a little bit.

He sits down at his desk and speaks into the phone, "Alright, you were saying something about 'urgent, life or death type business'?"

He hears his friend clear his throat on the phone before saying, _"... It's uhh... It's actually not that serious, I just needed to get you some place quiet so we can talk and I figured making it sound dire would get you there faster."_

"Tommy."

_"I just really need a favor from you and as my best friend in the whole wide world, I was really hoping you'd be able to help me out."_

"I don't like where this is going."

_"... How's your dancing?"_

"No."

 _"You haven't heard the whole thing yet!"_ he whines.

"Don't need to. The answer is still no," he says, fiddling with some knick-knack that his younger sister Thea had left on his desk.

_"Ollie, please! I really need your help here!"_

Oliver stays silent for a few minutes before sighing heavily.

_"Oooh, that's your 'I can't deny you anything, Tommy' sigh."_

"Shut up. I'll hear you out, but I'm not making any promises."

_"Okay, so one of the celebrities dropped out at the last possible minute before we start the training with the pros before we reveal the cast. We just really need someone who's in the spotlight and everyone and their mother knows who the Queens are... Also Verdant's been doing really well with the public lately, soooo..."_

"Why not ask Thea? She's co-owner and she loves the show."

_"I would have, but the celeb that dropped out was a guy and we need an even number."_

"You're asking me to potentially look like a moron on national television."

_"Well. I mean... It's not like it's the first time you've done something embarrassing on TV. Yeah, you're older and wiser now and you were a dumb kid back then-"_

"'We.' We were dumb kids. You were right there next to me, Merlyn, don't you forget that."

_"As I was saying! It won't be that bad. The audience doesn't expect you to be a pro. That's what your partner's there for. It's a learning experience. Your athleticism helps too, I’m sure. Also, you're very handsome and the audience can be kinda shallow, so you'll probably bring in some decent ratings until you get knocked off..."_

"This isn't really making me me want to say yes, you know..."

_"Oliver Jonas Queen, if I have to resort to asking your mother to get you to come on my show, I will."_

He laughs at that and says, "Fine, fine, I'll do the show. It might even drum up some good promo for Verdant."

_"You are the actual best and I love you."_

"Love you too, man."

_"Seriously. Were we not basically brothers, I'd kiss you full on the mouth for this."_

"Goodnight, Tommy."

 

-=-=-

 

"So I'm going to be on Dancing With the Stars," Oliver told his mother and sister at breakfast that same day.

"What?!" Thea cries out, dropping her spoon into her cereal bowl.

"I got a call from Tommy earlier. One of the contestants left, he asked me to come in, I said yes."

"That is so not fair. I've been begging Tommy to try and get me on the show for YEARS," Thea complains.

"If it had been a female celebrity that dropped out, he told me you would've been his first call."

"Oh yeah, 'cause that makes things so much better..." she mutters, shoving a spoonful of cereal into her mouth.

"Thea, be nice. I'm sure it'll be a fun experience, sweetheart," Moira says, taking a sip of her tea.

"So you're gonna get to go have fun on one of MY favorite reality shows of all time while I pick up the slack at Verdant for like, what? Two months?" Thea asks.

"It's actually more like 3," Oliver answers as he stands up from his chair.

"Joy..." she mutters as he drops a kiss on the top of her head.

"I'll try to see if I can get you an autograph from that one pro you like," he tells her before kissing his mother on the cheek.

Thea perks up at that, making Oliver smile.

"That's more like it. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go look into where I'm gonna be staying while on the show," he calls over his shoulder as he walks out of the dining room and toward the stairs.

-=-=-

 

Because Queen Manor is a few miles away from Starling City where the show is shot, Oliver, not wanting to make the trip everyday, simply chooses to look into renting a temporary apartment in the city.

His friend John Diggle, who lives in the city, tells him that a neighbor had recently moved out of the apartment complex where he and his wife Lyla are currently living.

The fact that the building happens to be in walking distance of the dance studio sweetens the deal and he moves in the week before his first day of dance practice.

Dig had been helping him move a few things in when he got a visitor.

Oliver, currently in the middle of making a call to Verdant to remind Thea to check with the DJ they had booked for an event that particular weekend when he heard the knock at his door, asks, "Dig, can you get the door, please?"

"Sure thing, man."

Oliver finishes his call when he looks up to see Dig and the person at the door walking toward him.

Sara Lance, another of Oliver’s friends from his billionaire playboy days, as well as a brilliant dancer and Tommy's fellow judge, says, “You know, I honestly didn’t believe Tommy had convinced you to come on the show,” smiling at him.

“Good to see you, Sara,” Oliver replies, leading them both into the living room.

“You too. Now, I wish I was here to catch up, but I’m actually here to talk show business."

“Shouldn’t this be, I don’t know, against the rules or something?” Dig asks as he watches them.

“Please. You know it's all really just played up for the cameras. Besides, I don’t really think Mr. Merlyn cares too much. Typical showrunner, just wants good ratings, that sort of thing. By the way, just because Tommy and I are your friends doesn’t mean we’re gonna go easy on you with the scoring.”

“I wouldn’t want you to.”

“Good.”

She places her bag on the table before digging through it and coming back up with a pair of dance shoes.

Dig whistles at the sight of the impossibly shiny black shoes.

“Anyway, these are for you. Take care of them because other than your dance partner, they’re gonna be your best friends through this entire season. Y’know, if you make it that far,” she says, holding said shoes out to him.

“Your belief in him is astounding," Dig chuckles.

She laughs in response and continues, “Speaking of your partner, and I'm breaking another big rule by telling you, you’ve been paired up with Felicity Smoak.”

"Oh, she's one of Lyla's favorites. Cute blonde, blue eyes, tendency to say things that probably shouldn't be said on live television?"

"That'd be Felicity, yeah."

"And you're pairing her up with him?"  Dig asks, pausing to look at Oliver, "Bye bye trophy..."

"I could win, y'know..." Oliver mutters under his breath, pulling up his cellphone.

Both of his friends grin at him before Sara starts talking again, "Anyway, yeah, Felicity's really cool. Lovely dancer, excellent teacher..."

While Sara speaks, Oliver takes a minute to look up his partner on his phone.

“And very smart. Says here she graduated from MIT."

She shrugs her shoulders, saying, “Just because she's crazy smart doesn't mean she can't dance. She’s been with the troupe for a good while and they only just promoted her to a partner a couple of seasons back, but she’s great. Make sure you act surprised when you meet her, okay?"

Oliver pulls up various pictures of Felicity and her previous partners. He recognizes a football player from the team that won the Super Bowl that year and some reality TV star.

One particular photo shows her and an actor from a show that had been popular at the time holding up the show’s famous mirrorball trophy.

“She’s also won before. Two times,” Sara adds, grinning at him before standing up from the couch to gather her things.

“Great.”

“You guys’ll get along fine, I think. Dress comfortably, like what you'd usually wear to the gym and bring those shoes and be at this address on this day at 7 AM. That’s where you’ll practice as long as you’re on the show. Oh, next Monday, we’re doing the photoshoot for the official promo pictures, and on Tuesday, the contestants, their partners, and the judges are all flying out to New York to reveal the cast on Good Morning America Wednesday morning.”

“Alright. Thanks, Sara.”

“No problem. Good luck, Ollie. Bye Mr. Diggle.”

Sara lets herself out and leaves the two men to themselves.

Dig turns to Oliver and says, "Well, now I'll definitely have to root for you. Lyla's one of those viewers that picks a dancer and roots for them no matter how hard their celebrity partner sucks," before patting him on the back.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Dig."

 

-=-=-

 

Oliver meets his dance partner at 7:03 AM on a Friday.

He walks into the dance studio where the celebrities and their partners practice. He's directed by one of the show people to stand in front of the door of the room he and his partner were assigned to, dressed in a black t-shirt and sweatpants, a light gray hoodie hanging over one shoulder. The man motions for him to go in. He takes a deep breath and opens the door.

He sees her in the middle of the room, practicing her form.

She's dressed in a light pink tank top, the lack of sleeves showing off her rather toned arms, and black leggings. On her feet were a pair of heeled dancing shoes.

He notices several camera operators standing to the side, capturing the moment. They all turn when they hear him open the door. She smiles and walks over to meet him halfway.

“Hi, I’m Oliver Queen.”

“Of course! I know who you are, you're Mr. Queen,” she replies, holding out her hand to him.

He shakes her hand saying, "No, Mr. Queen was my father. Please, call me Oliver."

She grins up at him, saying, "Okay, Oliver... Hi, I'm Felicity Smoak."

He can't help the smile that makes its way onto his mouth. He looks up before nodding over to the cameras.

“Are uh, these gentlemen gonna be here the entire time?” he asks.

“Oh, yeah. But you should be used to it.”

He raises an eyebrow and she flinches, closing her eyes at her words.

“What I mean is that… Well… It’s not like you’re a stranger to being on camera… Totally not judging, by the way! Ugh… ” she groans and brings a hand up to her forehead.

Oliver is immediately charmed by her.

"It's fine, I know what you mean," he says, smiling at her actions.

She looks up to see that he's genuinely amused by her and flushes lightly at his smile.

“So!” Felicity exclaims, clapping her hands together, “Shall we, Mr. Queen? Oh, I mean uh, Oliver.”

“After you, Ms. Smoak.”

"If I have to call you Oliver, you have to call me Felicity."

"Okay then, Felicity," he says, walking with her to the middle of the floor.

 

-=-=-

 

She explains to him that the dances on Premiere Night were usually either the cha-cha-cha, the foxtrot, or a contemporary routine.

"Sometimes they even toss in a jive or two to shake things up a bit," she says, shaking rhythmically as she speaks.

"I see..."

She bites her lip and asks, "You don't know the difference between any of those, do you?"

He scratches the side of his head, and says, "Not a clue."

She laughs and reaches up, taking his hands, placing them in the proper position on her waist, saying, "It's okay. I'll teach you everything I know."

He's a little surprised at how easily she touches him. He's more surprised at how much he likes it.

Oliver and Felicity’s first dance is to be a cha-cha-cha.

Oliver had dabbled in many sports, but none of them were like this. He's learning choreography, making sure said choreography matches the music, hopes to high heaven that he doesn't step on Felicity’s feet.

He cannot even begin to believe how tired he is and it's only day one.

 

-=-=-

 

After their appearance on Good Morning America, Oliver and Felicity double their practice efforts to get the dance locked down before Premiere Night.

“You know, for someone who’s never danced before, you’re picking it up pretty well,” she comments during one of their breaks.

“Well, I have a great teacher,” he replies, grinning at her.

Felicity blushes and ducks her head down, muttering a thank you, and Oliver thinks he probably shouldn't find that as adorable as he does.

He gets ready to say something, but is interrupted by a vibrating sound. He digs through his gym bag and picks up his phone. It's a text message from Thea.

“‘You guys have a lot of fans,’” he reads.

Attached to the text is a screenshot of what seemed to be his sister’s Twitter feed.

“What’s that?” she asks, moving over to look over his shoulder.

“My sister Thea says we’ve got a lot of fans,” he says, holding his phone out to her.

“Oooh, the fans gave us a portmanteau!”

At his blank look, she explains, “The fans combined our names. They do that with all of the couples. Oliver," she raises one hand, "and Felicity," she raises her other hand, "makes Olicity,” she finishes by bringing her hands together.

“Oh, I get it. Like Brangelina?”

“Exactly like Brangelina.”

That night, Oliver changes his Twitter profile icon to his promo picture from the photoshoot.

 

-=-=-

 

The night of the premiere, they are the 9th couple to dance.

The competition is pretty stiff.  The couple that performed before them had danced a particularly entertaining foxtrot, earning them the highest score so far, with three 8s.

They stand at the top of the stairs in front of the band, waiting for their video package to end and for the announcer to give them their cue. Felicity is dressed in a short pink dress with red fringe lining the skirt, the color similar to the tank top she had been wearing when they first met, while Oliver is wearing a navy blue button up and black slacks.

He swallows nervously as he looks around at the crowd and the cameras. He spots his mother and sister in the crowd, eagerly waiting to see him dance. His stepfather Walter wasn't able to attend, having business to attend to, but he called Oliver earlier to wish him good luck.

At the judges' table to their right, he sees Sara and Tommy both smile encouragingly at him. Seated between them is Amanda Waller, the 3rd judge and, according to Felicity, the hardest to please, who merely watches and waits for them.

Felicity is situated in front of Oliver when she turns to look at him over her shoulder and whispers, “Hey, just focus on dancing with me, okay? You’re gonna do fine.”

He squeezes her hand in response and takes a breath.

“Dancing the cha-cha-cha… Oliver Queen and his partner Felicity Smoak.”

The band begins playing their song and they walk down the stairs in time with the music.

Felicity spins around to face him.

Oliver takes her hands in his and all of the nerves he feels creeping through him disappeared.

-=-=-

 

They finish their dance and receive the judges’ comments, heading up to the skybox, buzzing with excitement. The other couples applaud them, Felicity getting a few hugs from her fellow professionals and Oliver getting handshakes and pats on the shoulder.

After they're awarded an 8 from Sara, a 7 from Amanda, and a very enthusiastic 8 from Tommy, Oliver gives Felicity a hug as well.

 

-=-=-

 

The quickstep doesn't come to Oliver as easily as the cha-cha-cha.

As the name suggests, this dance is much faster and the additional footwork is a bit more complicated. He and Felicity end up accidentally kicking each other more times than they care to admit, but each and every kick is captured on film. They even share pictures of their various bruises on various social media platforms.

There's also the threat of double elimination looming over them this particular episode.

“Just relax, Oliver. This is supposed to be a fun dance. Well… I mean all dances are fun, but come on!” Felicity urges as she passes him a towel to dry the sweat off his face.

“I know, I know. It’s just not sticking with me and I don’t know why,” he replies, sitting back against the wall.

 

-=-=-

 

The drama's played up a bit more in their video package. To balance the drama, they had also included a comedic montage of them accidentally kicking each other, which had earns a few laughs from the crowd.

Before their dance, Felicity tells Oliver the same thing she had told him before their first dance.

The familiar beat begins and she has Oliver lead her into the middle of the dance floor.

Their score ends up being lower than their first dance, earning two 7s and an incredibly generous 8 from Sara, putting them in the middle of the leaderboard.

“Were things tense this time around? I feel like things were tense,” Tommy comments.

They are safe from elimination, but the lower score has done nothing for the mood.

 

-=-=-

 

Things stay tense well into the third week of the competition.

The video package plays it up with phrases like, “trouble in paradise.” Even Felicity, who had been described by her previous partners as having the patience of a saint, is seen on screen as being at the end of her rope with Oliver and his short temper. At one point, she even walks out of the studio, saying she needed some air. Hearing Felicity sounding the least bit angry earns a few gasps from the audience.

Their paso doble ends up being very intense, almost angry.

Both are dressed in black. Felicity looks positively sultry with her smoky eye makeup and dark lips and the fabric of her dress, longer in the back and much shorter in the front, swishing about her legs. Her naturally curly hair is straight and flowing around her shoulders.

They smile for the crowds, but anyone with eyes could sense that things were off.

Unlike their two previous dances, Felicity didn't give Oliver any reassuring words before their dance. When the music starts, she stares at him, narrowing her eyes before basically dragging him onto the floor.

It kind of fucks him up how comfortable he is with that.

At the beginning of the dance, Felicity and Oliver circle around each other, the choreography made up of them seemingly daring the other to move. She steps forward, wrapping an arm around his neck and he does the same. She curls her body towards him, pushing him backwards, her hips never quite touching his. Her movements drive him near the corner of the dance floor.

His hands frame her face before moving down to her hand and waist and they sway back into the middle of the floor where they fall into the familiar steps of a paso doble.

The dance ends with Oliver sliding toward her on his knees, putting himself completely at her mercy, and Felicity bent towards him, her hands tugging him up to her by the lapels of his shirt. Her hair forms a curtain around their heads, giving the audience the impression that they are kissing.

She is so close, staring down at him with those pretty blue eyes of hers and her wine-colored mouth is one short tilt of his chin away and her chest is pressing against his and Oliver thinks for a moment that this shouldn't feel as good as it does.

The applause thunders around them and brings them back.

Felicity recovers first, moving to stand up straight and help Oliver up. Their smiles are a little uneasy, but at least they are smiling as they walk to the judges.

“Wow. That was... Wow. That's really all I can say. Wow,” Sara offers, hands moving about as she searched for her words.

“The technique still needs some polishing, but it was still very well done,” Amanda says, nodding her head.

“Oh… Ohhhhh… Is that- Is that a smile I see, Amanda?” Tommy asks, inching closer to his fellow judge.

There is a slight smile on her lips, but it immediately falls when she turns to glare at him. The audience and Oliver and Felicity laugh at how quickly Tommy turns back to Oliver and Felicity.

“You both are amazing together, even when you both look like you want to strangle the other. The choreography was great, the chemistry’s on point… I think this is the dance of the night, you guys,” he says, clapping along with the audience.

Oliver and Felicity both nod and smile and then make their way to the skybox hand in hand, arriving to a few hollers from their fellow couples.

The co-host asks them a few questions about their practice and why things had been so tense.

“Oh, there’s that word again…” Felicity says, laughing and ducking her head.

“Tempers flared. We didn’t do as well with the quickstep and… Well, you saw that paso doble,” Oliver replies, still sounding a bit winded from the dance.

“We’re both stubborn,” Felicity continues, shrugging her shoulders.

“Yes. Stubborn,” Oliver agrees, wrapping an arm around her waist.

The announcer’s voice calls out, “Will the judges please reveal their scores? Sara Lance.”

“9!”

Oliver huffs out a laugh and pulls Felicity even closer as she pumps her fist in the air.

“Amanda Waller.”

“9.”

Felicity presses her forehead against Oliver’s neck before looking back up at the camera, bright smiles on both their faces.

“Tommy Merlyn.”

“9!”

They nearly collapse against each other. Oliver wraps both of his arms around Felicity and holds her close.

“Three 9s from our judges, putting you both at the top of the leaderboard for this week…”

After the hosts go on to announce the next couple, they move to a corner of the skybox, away from the other couples and the cameras.

“So… That was…” Felicity starts, trailing off as she waves a hand around.

“Something?” Oliver suggests.

“It was definitely something.”

He grins at her and cocks his head to the side, saying, “I’m sorry I was being so difficult these past two weeks.”

She sighs and shrugs her shoulders, “Eh, it was like they said. Things were tense. The important thing is that you got your head out of your ass."

Oliver chuckles at that last part.

Felicity slumps against him, more than a little tired after everything, saying, "Although, if it’s all the same to you, I think I can go a couple of days without hearing the word ‘tense.’ What do you say?”

“What if we’re in a situation where that particular word is necessary?” he asks, cheek pressed against the top of her head.

“Then we’ll consult a thesaurus.”

After the show, they take a victory selfie later that night, which Felicity promptly posts to her twitter.

Oliver retweets it.

Felicity makes it her profile icon.

#Olicity trends worldwide that night.

 

-=-=-

 

The 4th week of the competition revolves around Latin-themed dances.

Because there's a specific theme this week, there's a big dance number from the professionals between the performances, and because one of the already eliminated dancers couldn’t make it back to the states, Felicity ends up having to split her time between teaching Oliver to salsa and learning the second routine with her fellow professionals.

They also have the Switch Up looming on the horizon, meaning she wouldn’t be dancing with Oliver after their performance tomorrow for a week.

She's contractually obligated to go through with it, but that doesn't mean she's looking forward to it.

“I’m really sorry about this, but hey, you’re picking this up a lot faster than the other three dances! And there’s a guest judge and they’re usually pretty generous with their points, especially when they’re not dancers themselves,” she says during a break.

“It’s fine, Felicity. I’m actually pretty confident about this dance,” he assures her.

She smiles up at him and says, “I can tell. You look a lot lighter this time around. It’s a good look.”

“Is that so?”

She holds up a hand, saying, “Not that you don’t look good all the time… Oh god, there is no way for me to say this without sounding like I’m hitting on you, so I’m just gonna go… Away. Now.”

Felicity stands and scampers out of the room, Oliver’s laughter following her out the door.

-=-=-

 

The song for their salsa is a tad slower than the songs from their first three dances. For this routine, Felicity lets Oliver dance beside her instead of with her, which got the audience cheering.

They get two 9s, an 8 and their first 10 of the season, which keeps them at the top of the leaderboard, though they are tied with another couple.

“You were so great!” she whispers in his ear when he sweeps her up in a hug.

“It was all you,” he tells her, putting her back down gently.

"It was you too," she says, squeezing his arms once more.

His arms stay linked around her waist, the glittery fabric of her gold dress rough against his hands.

She smiles up at him, a pretty blush spreading across her cheeks. After a moment, she clears her throat and shakes her head.

“Normally, I’d stay and soak up the praise with you, but I have to go change for the other dance,” she says, jutting a thumb over her shoulder.

“Oh, yeah, yeah… You should go.”

Felicity gives him one last hug and then walks towards the back of the skybox to where the dressing rooms were located.

Oliver feels something tug at his chest as he watches her leave. He sighs and walks back to the area of the skybox overlooking the dance floor.

Minutes later as the crew puts the last finishing touches on the floor before the show returned from commercial, he sees the dancers coming out and getting into position.

Oliver searches for Felicity among the crowd. The men are wearing black muscle shirts and baggy pants. The women have more variety in their costumes, from short dresses to skirts and bustiers.

When Oliver finally spots Felicity, he nearly swallows his tongue.

She's wearing a pair of high-waisted leather shorts and a crop top with straps that wind along and across her back. Her hair is curled and pinned to the side and her lips are a deep red, but still bright enough for him to see from his place up in the skybox.

The lace up combat boots on her feet should not be such a huge turn on, but damn it, they are and he finds himself feeling incredibly thankful that the cameras aren't focused on him at the moment.

After the host introduces them, the troupe bands closer together, putting on their act for the audience.

Felicity's standing on one side of the floor next to two other pros he recognizes as Nyssa al Ghul, one of the troupe dancers, and Helena Bertinelli, a dancer whose partner was still in the competition. All three of them are looking on as some of the male dancers move around in front of them.

The song starts and they get into their places. At the song’s whistle, they begin moving in perfect sync.

They move to the middle of the floor, dancing on their own before breaking off into couples. Each of the couples get a few seconds of focus in the center of the crowd while the other dancers cheer them on.

When Felicity’s turn comes, Oliver notices that she's dancing with Roy Harper, whose celebrity partner had been eliminated the second week. The younger man spins her around, before meeting her in the middle, pressing their foreheads together.

Oliver can see their smiles even in the dim light of the floor and finds himself unconsciously gripping the rail he's standing behind.

-=-=-

 

After the dance, Felicity comes back to Oliver up in the skybox. She taps his arm to get his attention and feels a moment of smug satisfaction when she notices him gazing appreciatively at her costume.

“Soooo… What’d you think?” she asks, biting her lip.

He clears his throat, bringing his eyes back up to her face, saying, “You uhh, you were great… I mean, the whole group was great, but you were…”

She rocks back and forth on the heels of her boots, clasping her hands behind her back as she waits for him to finish his statement.

“You’re remarkable.”

“Thank you for remarking on it.”

She grins and wraps an arm around his waist as they move toward the stairs that would would lead them to the floor.

“Not gonna lie, I may be a little biased,” he turns and whispers against the shell of her ear as they walk.

She feels rather than sees him smirk when she shivers against him. She recovers quickly and looks up at him.

“Just a little?” she asks, pinching her fingers together.

“Just a little,” he replies, repeating her action.

 

-=-=-

 

Though they end up safe from elimination, Oliver still feels nervous up on the stairs with the other couples.

It may not have mattered to him before, but he finds himself wanting to win the competition. He's pretty sure it has to do with the woman standing in front of him.

As if she knew he was thinking about her, Felicity bumps her chin against the hand he had on her shoulder. He looks down at her and she smiles. He feels himself smiling back before moving his arms around her waist and turning to face the audience. She leans against his chest and places her hands above his where they're resting on her stomach.

“Now celebrities, say bye to your dance partners for now because we have our Switch Off! Tune in next week to see which couples you voted for!”

Oliver thinks he's never felt a smile drop from his face faster than it does just then.

-=-=-

 

Oliver calls Felicity later that night, wanting to make these last few moments with her last.

Yes, he realizes how incredibly stupid he's being.

He knows he'll still see her around the studio. He knows that they have standing invitations to the other's place. He knows she made a point of reminding him that he has her number.

He knows, but he also doesn't give a damn.

“So tell me about the other dancers,” he says as he sits against the headboard of his bed.

_“Well, there’s Helena... Oh, and Isabel Rochev. All wonderful dancers, so there’s no real need to worry if you get paired up with either of them.”_

He scratches idly at his shoulder, asking, "Who do you think I’ll get paired up with?”

Oliver hears what sounds like tapping on a computer keyboard.

He hears her humming in thought before she says, _"No idea. The fans on Facebook and Twitter seem to be focusing on pairing you and Helena... But Isabel's not too far behind.”_

He hums in agreement.

_"There's also a bit of an outcry for you to stay with me..."_

He smiles at that.

 _“Which is good, I guess…”_ she mutters.

“You staying with me?”

_“What? No! I mean, yes, but... Oh my god, I don't mean that."_

"So you don't want to stay with me?" He's grinning now, imagining the flustered look on her face.

_"Of course I want to stay with you."_

He swears he actually stops breathing for a second.

_"I was just going back to you and Helena or Isabel. Either one of them will make a good partner for you. Helena’s less about technique and more about performance and Isabel’s… Isabel’s all about technique.”_

“So she’s strict.”

_“Yeah. You two will probably butt heads if you get paired up. She’s not as nice as me.”_

Oliver laughs at that, saying, “I don’t think anyone’s as nice as you.”

_“Oh, I’m so sure...”_

“No, seriously. You’re the nicest person I know.”

 _“I’m sure you’ve met nicer people,”_ she manages between giggles.

He loves hearing her laugh. He's going to miss hearing that laugh during practice.

A part of him feels more than a little pathetic for feeling this strongly after only a month or so of knowing her.

A bigger, slightly louder part of him also doesn't care.

Oliver sighs and stares up at his ceiling, saying, “Is it... I don't know, bad to say that I’m not looking forward to this?”

Felicity stays silent for a few seconds before answering, _“No… ‘Cause I’m not really looking forward to it either...”_

His mouth moves, wanting to say something, but Felicity speaks first.

_"I like dancing with you, Oliver."_

He can just see her blushing at her admission. His thoughts stray to where she is, what she's doing. He wonders if she's sitting at a table or tucked into the corner of a couch, knees up against her chest. Or maybe she's in bed like he is, legs stretched along the length of the mattress, back against the headboard. No, he thinks she's more of the type to sit on a bed with her legs crossed.

He swallows down the lump in his throat and forces himself to think of other things because after this last dance and the costume she wore, “Felicity” and “legs” and "bed" are a deadly combination of words.

"I like dancing with you too," he tells her, his tone as gentle as can be.

He hears what sounds like her breath hitching, like she wants to say something, but stops herself at the last minute.

“Good luck with your partner. Maybe he won’t be as hopeless as me," he says, breaking the silence.

_“You’re not hopeless… But thanks. You too.”_

“Yeah.”

_“‘night, Oliver.”_

“Goodnight, Felicity.”

 

-=-=-

 

As luck would have it, the fans had voted to pair Oliver with Isabel Rochev.

He's not one for social media, but he feels an urge to send a snarky tweet thanking the fans for his new partner.

Isabel is a beautiful dancer, having trained as a ballerina since she was a child, which made her preference for technique over performance all the more obvious. She rarely smiles. She can, she merely prefers not to.

Oliver still isn’t sure whether or not that made her the perfect instructor for the Argentine tango, which was the dance they were supposed to perform.

“You need to straighten up.”

“Your form’s off.”

“Your leg needs to go here.”

“Lower your arm.”

Isabel is a perfectionist and while Oliver would usually appreciate that, she was currently grating on his last nerve.

“Can we take a break? I need to go use the bathroom.”

“... Fine. Don’t take too long. We’re going to need to spend a lot of time on this dance."

"It's only the first day of practice."

"Does that matter? We’re not stopping until it’s good enough to earn 10s across the board."

He smiles weakly at that. At least she's trying to get him a good score.

He walks into the bathroom and makes a beeline for one of the stalls, phone out and already calling Felicity.

She answers on the third ring, _"Hey! How's your first day with Isabel going?"_

"Not bad, I guess. I mean, I'm learning and whatever but..."

_"'But...'?"_

"She's... She's kinda mean. You weren’t kidding when you said she was strict."

Felicity laughs, saying, _"I'm sure she’s not that bad..."_

“I only get one bathroom break… A day.”

She makes a small noise, saying, _"Or maybe she is, I don't know. I always get the feeling that she doesn't like me very much, but we don't really talk, so I don't know for sure... Maybe she's like those people that are really nice, but you can never tell at first because they have a perpetual case of bitchy resting face, except it doesn't stop at her face... Not that I'm calling her a bitch, but... Well, that's what it's called..."_

"Hmm... How did things go with Parker?"

_"Palmer.”_

“Whatever.”

_“Oliver…”_

“Felicity."

Not even he understands the low tone he uses, but he's glad because he can tell it throws her off.

_“Umm, th-things with Ray are going well. We’ve got a contemporary routine, so we're..."_

As much as Oliver loved hearing Felicity talk, he just couldn’t muster up the desire to listen to her talking about Ray Palmer, some science whiz CEO that the media currently adored, Oliver didn't care, but he’d seen the man.

Palmer's goofy-looking.

And tall.

He's tall and goofy-looking.

There's a voice in the back of his mind saying that that wasn’t very polite. He's probably a really nice guy, but the fact that he's dancing with his Felic-

Oliver pauses at that.

What the actual hell is he doing calling Felicity 'his'?

He hears several knocks at the door and Isabel calling his name before he can answer himself.

God help him, he was actually going to answer himself...

He coughs and says, "Oh uh, I wish I could talk longer, but Isabel's already calling me in. Says it shouldn't take me more than 5 minutes to go to the bathroom."

_"Aww, you wasted your one bathroom break to call me?"_

He swears he can actually hear her smile.

"Of course."

_"You charmer, you."_

"Talk to you later?"

_"Yup."_

Oliver ends the call and pockets his phone. He groans and lightly bangs the back of his head against the bathroom door.

“Damn it.”

 

-=-=-

 

Oliver and Isabel’s Argentine tango isn’t exactly the perfection that the latter was aiming for, but they do well enough to earn two 9s and a 10.

He's slightly disappointed, but there wasn’t much he could do. He knew it was on him. Isabel had done her best, but his heart hadn’t been in it.

As if she could read his mind, Isabel rolls her eyes and waves him off after they had received their scores.

Oliver had left the skybox, looking for Felicity. There are two more couples up before her and Ray’s performance, so she was most likely backstage…

With Ray.

Thankfully, he finds her alone.

Unfortunately, he finds her mid-stretch.

She's wearing a simple white dress. A simple white dress that reveals her shapely leg and a fair amount of thigh as she stretches it up against one of the building’s support beams.

Forget “deep trouble.”

He is so screwed.

He is so monumentally screwed because there is no way that image won't make a guest appearance in his dreams that night.

“Oliver!” Felicity calls out, waving him over after she had spotted him.

He clears his throat and quickly makes his way over to her.

“Word on the grapevine,” she says, her voice strained due to her stretching and doing absolutely nothing to help Oliver’s poor mind, “and by grapevine, I mean Nyssa, is that you and Isabel got a 28.”

Oh god, she started stretching her other leg.

“Y-yeah. 28,” he answers, hoping she hadn’t heard the crack in his voice.

“Hmm… It’s not bad. It’s lower than our score-”

He briefly wonders if she realizes that she was putting emphasis on the word “our.”

“-from last week, but hey, points are points… That puts you in the middle of tonight’s leaderboard, doesn’t it?” she asks as she finished her stretching.

She adjusts her dress before looking back up at him, waiting for him to answer.

“Yeah. Sorry about that,” he replies, scratching the back of his head.

She shakes her head, saying, “It’s not your fault.”

“No, I’m pretty sure it is.”

“Hey,” she says, placing a hand against his forearm, “It’ll be fine.”

He gives her a skeptical look.

“It's still a good score."

“You sure about that?”

“Yeaaah... Worst case scenario, we'll be that annoying cockroach-y couple that probably should get eliminated, but the fans continue to save every single time they’re at the chopping block.”

“You just called us cockroaches.”

“Ah, I called us “cockroach-y.” Major difference.”

“”Cockroach-y” is not a word, Felicity," he says, completely unable to keep his smile at bay.

"There's that smile," she says, poking her tongue out between her teeth.

Oh, not the tongue...

“Felicity, they need us on stage.”

They both turn around to see Ray Palmer walking up to them.

“The last couple’s getting their scores, so we need to start heading over there so they can set up the video package. Hey, Queen! Didn’t notice you there.”

Oliver’s response is only a tight-lipped, “Mm-hmm.”

“Heard you got a 29.”

“... It was actually 28.”

“... Bummer. Anyway, we need to get going,” he says, looking down at Felicity.

“Yeah, okay. I’ll see you afterwards, alright?” she tells Oliver, squeezing his arm gently as she walks off with Ray.

He has no choice but to look after them as they move toward the stage.

 

-=-=-

 

Oliver's incredibly thankful that the cameras aren’t focusing on him because he knows they'd see a sour expression on his face throughout the entire performance.

He wants to be supportive, he does, but…

Well, there's only so much support he can offer when he sees someone other than him holding and lifting and spinning his partner around the dance floor.

And they had to get contemporary, one of the more romantic dances in the show. It was positively unfair.

After the performance, Amanda and the traitors formerly known as Sara and Tommy comment positively on the dance.

He tries as hard as he can to ignore the dark, almost sick feeling in his stomach when he sees them come back up to the skybox to hear their scores, holding hands.

The feeling fades a little when he sees Felicity smiling at Ray. It's her polite smile, not like the beautiful bright smiles she gives him.

The feeling disappears completely when Felicity, still running on post-performance adrenaline, lets go of Ray’s hand and nearly jumps into Oliver’s arms. He places her back on the ground, smiling warmly at her. She mouths an apology before walking back to Ray, her hand lingering in his until the last possible second.

The feeling returns when Ray and Felicity are given the first perfect score of the competition.

-=-=-

 

The 30 Felicity helped Ray get keeps him and his partner safe.

As ridiculous as it sounds, since they are only two points away from a perfect score, the 28 Isabel had helped Oliver get puts him and Felicity in danger of being eliminated.

The crowd is shocked, but not Oliver. He feels responsible for them standing on the stage. He tries not to let it show on camera.

It helps that Felicity has her arms around him, one hand stroking along his side in a comforting manner.

She holds him tighter after the host announces they're safe.

-=-=-

 

Oliver goes home to his apartment in a foul mood. After spending a few minutes inside, he decides to go for a late night jog to work his stress off and also to pick up something from the nearby convenience store.

When he comes back he finds someone waiting for him at the front of the building.

"Felicity?"

She whirls around, nearly losing the glasses perched on her nose and clutching a rather large brown paper bag in her arm and her phone against her ear.

"Did you not take your phone with you?" she asks, tone slightly angry as she hangs up.

He picks his up out of his pocket and sees a few missed calls and texts from her. He notices that the phone's still on silent.

"Sorry, I forgot to take it off silent. Were you waiting long?" he asks.

She sits on the step and sighs, saying, "No, I've only been here a few minutes."    

He can't help but grin at the way she pulls at the little knit cap she's wearing before he asks, "What are you doing here?"

"Oh! Well, you were kinda down after today's performance, so I thought I'd get us a little pick me up to cope," she says, patting the bag that she placed beside her on the step.

"I guess we had the same idea," he says with a chuckle, holding up a bag from the convenience store, "It's just chips and salsa though. Not really a big drinker anymore."

"Hmm, that's one way of coping. My way is a little sweeter," she says, pulling out a light green container from the bag and setting it on her knees.

"You bought me ice cream?"

"I bought _us_ ice cream. Mint chip to be precise. Although, if you don't like mint chip, I also brought chocolate chip... And plain chocolate. And... "

He's laughing at her by this point and she huffs, saying, "Okay, so I panicked and basically bought a lot of ice cream. The cashier asked me if I was having a party."

Oliver laughs even harder, saying, "It's okay, I like mint chip."

Felicity smiles and holds her hand out to him, which he immediately takes, pulling her up from the step.

"Lead the way," she says.

 

-=-=-

 

They sit at the small kitchen island, bowls of ice cream in front of them.

"So, I have to ask..." Oliver starts, plunging his spoon into his bowl.

"Mm-hmm?"

"How do you stand having to wear those costumes all the time?"

Felicity gives an unladylike snort and takes another bite of ice cream.

"No, I'm serious. They look nice and all, but they also look kind of uncomfortable."

"Yeah, no, they are, you know, sometimes, but it's all part of the act. At least I haven't suffered a huge wardrobe malfunction or some weird accidental groping like some of the others."

"Like?"

"Like Roy, the pro I danced with during Latin Night? A couple of seasons ago, he and his partner did this move where she was supposed to land on the floor in a split in front of him, right? So she falls into the split and ends nailing him in the groin with the back of her head."

Oliver hisses in dismay at that, saying, "Ouch... On live TV?"

"Yup. I've also seen someone's pants splitting open and an earring getting ripped off... Eugh. That was gruesome," she mutters, spooning some more ice cream into her mouth.

He tosses another scoopful of ice cream into his bowl, trying to come up with something else to say.

"So how was dancing with Isabel?"

He freezes the second he hears her question.

"What?"

"Isabel. Did you like dancing with her?"

Fuck.

"Uhh..."

"I mean, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. Even if you do, it's not like I'm gonna go tell her, "Oooh, Oliver said this bad thing about you," or whatever," she says, scraping the last bit of mint chip out of her bowl.

"No, it's just... I mean, it's not that she was a bad teacher or anything. At least I'll know what to do if or when we get to dance an Argentine tango, but..."

Felicity stands up and is halfway into the kitchen to take her bowl and spoon to the sink when he finally says, "She wasn't you."

She turns to look at him, mouth slightly parting in surprise. The movement draws his eye to her lips.

"Amanda kinda caught onto that. She said that I was pretty much just going through the motions because I wanted to get back to dancing with you and... "

"Oliver..."

"She wasn't wrong."

"... Oh."

Felicity watches as Oliver stands from his chair to walk over to her. He takes the bowl and spoon from her hands and places it on the counter beside them.

He brings a hand up and places it on her shoulders, noticing the way her eyes flutter when his thumbs graze the skin left bare by the scoop neck shirt she's wearing.

"I'll have you know... Umm... I don't..."

He watches her, waiting for her to finish speaking. He struggles to keep his eyes locked with hers when her tongue pokes out to wet her lips.

"I don't make it a habit... Getting this close to my partners, I mean," she says, placing her hands on his arms.

He closes his eyes and waits for her to push him away. Instead, he feels her fingers trail along his arms to his wrists to the hands he has on her shoulders. She pulls one of his hands off her shoulder and holds it in her own, stroking a thumb gently over his knuckles.

"What are yo-"

"It's pretty late, Oliver. And this," she holds up their hands, "Is way too heavy a conversation to be having at this hour."

He nods, though he's more than a little reluctant to let her go.

"Yeah... Yeah, I'm sorry," he says when she releases his hands.

She shakes her head, saying, "Don't be."

Felicity moves away from him to gather her things. Oliver grabs the bowls and spoons and puts them in the sink and then puts the lid back on the ice cream.

"What do you want to do with the rest of the ice cream?" he asks.

"Why don't you keep it?"

He furrows his brow in question as he walks her to his door

She smiles as she wraps the scarf around her neck, saying, "It'll give me a reason to come back."

He leans a shoulder against the wall beside the door and can't help the dumb grin on his face as she says that.

"Oliver?"

"Hmm?"

Felicity looks down for a moment before looking back up at him through her lashes. She rubs her lips together and reaches up for the hood of his sweatshirt. She uses it to pull him a little closer to her before standing on the tips of her toes and pressing a kiss to the corner of his mouth. His eyes slip closed at the contact, stay closed when she reaches up and runs her fingers along his jaw.

She rubs her thumb against where her lips had just been, removing the traces of lipstick she had left behind, when she whispers, "He wasn't you either."

He looks at her then, a smile slowly spreading across his lips. She gives him a smile of her own and opens the door.

"Goodnight."

She doesn't wait for him to reply before stepping over the threshold and closing the door.

He dreams of her that night.

 

-=-=-

 

The next week is a bit of a blur.

They both show up to the studio a bit later than their usual time, having parted ways at a pretty late hour, but they showed up, ready to practice for their next dance.

"Okay, so our next dance is gonna beeee... The jive, yes! I love this dance!" Felicity announces, pumping her fist in the air.

"The jive's pretty fast, isn't it?" he asks.

"Yeah, but you're doing so well! I think you'll be just fine," she says, patting his shoulders.

He smiles and turns to lead her onto the dance floor.

-=-=-

 

Throughout rehearsal, Oliver notices that they're more... He's not sure how to describe it, but something's changed

She'll hip check him as she walks by, he'll tug on her ponytail, they'll make goofy faces at one another when the mood gets down, playful little things like that.

Oliver likes this change.

Judging by the smile on her face as they practice and how the smile only grows when they receive a perfect score for their jive, he thinks Felicity likes it too.

 

-=-=-

 

"What's got you smiling so much?" Thea asks him when she comes over for dinner during the next week.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Oliver says, dodging the question that he already knows the answer to.

She stares blankly at her older brother, watching as he sorts through the cartons of Chinese food on the kitchen island.

"Really, Thea. I don't know what you're talking about."

"Hmm... Alright. If you say so," she replies, with a scrunch of her nose.

"I do say so... By the way..."

Right on cue, the doorbell rings.

"We have guests. Why don't you go answer the door?"

Thea narrows her eyes at the grin he can barely keep hidden. She rolls her eyes and goes to the door, muttering about how she'll get to the bottom of this... Whatever this is.

She opens the door to reveal Felicity and Roy. Her eyes widen in surprise.

"Hey, Thea! Nice to see you again," Felicity said before jutting her thumb over her shoulder, "You know Roy, right?"

Roy smiled and offered a small wave.

"Yeah... I watch the show, so you can call me a fan, I guess," she says, smiling back at the both of them before ushering them inside.

"Thanks. Felicity's told me a bit about you. I've been to you and your brother's club, it's great."

"Why thank you! I really should take all the credit to be quite honest with you, my brother's absolutely useless when it comes to interior design and music," Thea replies, leading Roy towards the living room as Oliver walks past them towards Felicity.

"What are you doing?" he asks her through clenched teeth.

"What? I just thought... Well, you mentioned that Thea was a fan of his, so I thought I'd bring Roy over so they could meet," she says, looking up at him.

He blinks down at her before shaking his head. It's a sweet gesture, really, but still.

"I don't know how comfortable I am with my sister being friends with the so-called "Bad Boy of the Ballroom," Felicity..." he answers, glaring at his sister and Roy.

Felicity rolls her eyes and says, "Okay, first off, that's someone else's title, not Roy's. Second, puh-lease... He's a puppy in a red hoodie. Look at him!"

He looks up again, watching as Thea and Roy talk to one another, smiling and laughing. Oliver sighs, admitting defeat. If Felicity vouches for him, then he figures Roy can't be that bad. He smiles and leans down to kiss her cheek, probably lingering a couple of seconds too long.

"Wh-What was that for?" she asks.

"I hadn't said hello," he says before walking back to the kitchen, leaving her blushing and speechless.

 

-=-=-

 

"Why do you always get paired up with the older ladies?" Thea asks, sipping from her drink

"Mr. Merlyn's out to get me," Roy says, taking a bite of fried rice.

"Just because you've had a few sucky partners doesn't mean he's out to get you," Oliver comments.

"No, we're pretty sure it's because Mr. Merlyn's out to get him," Felicity laughs, picking up a carton of noodles.

"Why do you say that?" Oliver asks.

“A few seasons ago, I uhh… May or may not have said something about him without realizing he was in the same room…” Roy replies, reaching for his drink.

“So why not just fire you?”

Felicity laughs and gently grips Roy’s jaw, completely missing Oliver’s twitching eyebrow, before turning him toward the other man, saying, “Have you seen this face? He brings in the teenagers. Merlyn doesn’t wanna lose that.”

Roy lightly slaps at her hand, saying, “Anyway, as my punishment, I now get partnered up with uhh, let's just call them women of an advanced age.”

Both Queen siblings snort at that.

“Every now and then, he’ll throw me a bone and pair me up with a younger partner, but most of the time…” he finishes with a hiss.

Felicity quickly looks between the two younger people in the room and says, “You know, I’m pretty sure if they had asked Thea to come on the show, they’d have paired the two of you up.”

Oliver shoots her a look.

“Really?” Thea asks.

“Nah, I don’t think so,” Oliver mutters a little too quickly.

“Oh yeah! Look at them! They look so pretty together.”

Thea moves a little closer to Roy and pulls up her phone before turning the front camera on them, saying, “Huh… Well, what do you know…”

“We definitely could have won,” Roy says, going along with the joke with a smile on his face.

“Oh yeah, sure, based on looks alone, we’d get 10s across the board,” Thea laughs.

“SO! How about some ice cream? Anyone?” Oliver asks, shooting up from his seat.

Neither of them are paying attention and Felicity is grinning up at him.

“Yeah, ice cream sounds great,” she says, getting up from the couch and pushing him into the kitchen.

-=-=-

“Are you happy now?" he whispers to her once they’re out of earshot.

“Oh hush, they’re fine,” she says, pulling the container of ice cream out of his freezer before going to the cupboards for the bowls.

He passes her the scoop, trying to focus on his irritation rather than the warm feeling in his chest at how well she already knows her way around his kitchen.

“I honestly just thought that Thea’d like to meet him since she’s a fan, I wasn’t thinking they’d hit it off or anything,” she says, running the scoop under warm water.

“‘Hit it off’? No. No one’s hitting off anything.”

She rolls her eyes and flicks him with water.

“Real mature.”

She sticks her tongue out at him.

"You're going to be the death of me, you know that?" he says with a sigh, unable to help the smile on his face.

She grins and nudges his shin with her foot, saying, "Well, I'll try to do it in a manner that doesn't hurt," before reaching across him for a bowl.

He smirks down at her and runs his fingers along her sides, causing her to giggle.

"Hey! Quit making out in there and bring us our ice cream!" Thea calls from the other room.

Oliver tosses his head back and laughs.

-=-=-

Later, they watch as Roy tries to teach Thea the quickstep in the middle of the living room. Oliver is on the floor while Felicity is on the sofa, situated behind him with her legs bracketing his sides.

Thea is having the time of her life, laughing and smiling with Roy and Oliver is glad to see such joy on his baby sister's face.

"You look happy," Felicity comments from above him.

He looks up to see her smiling face and says, “Yeah, I kinda am.”

She leans forward and runs her hands along his shoulders, asking, “Mmm, just ‘kinda’?”

He cocks his head to the side and says, “Ehh, an argument could be made for ‘really’...” before reaching up and grasping one of her hands.

“That’s a little better,” she replies, linking their fingers together.

They are so wrapped up in each other, they don't notice Thea slyly taking a picture of them on her phone.

The picture gets over 3K retweets on Twitter.

When she sees it later, Felicity saves the picture on her phone.

When he finds out about it, Oliver makes the picture his cellphone wallpaper.


	2. Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "He has no clue what a samba is, but he's eager to find out.
> 
> God help him, he actually looks forward to dancing now.
> 
> He's pretty sure it has everything to do with the woman currently swaying next to him as she watches the other members of their team."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I'm a lying liar who lies. I know I said that Part II was going to be up, like, the week after Part I, but obviously, that didn't happen... Because Real Life, writer's block, the midseason finale, and then the holidays... Yeesh.
> 
> Anyway, without any further ado, here it is.
> 
> Also, yes, you didn't imagine that rating change.

The next week, they have a waltz and the Team Dance.

Their waltz is already at a decent level, thanks in large part to the ballroom dancing lessons Oliver’s mother forced him to take when he was younger, so they focus on set design, their costumes, and then the Team Dance.

To make up for the uneven number of contestants left, Oliver and Felicity are on the smaller of the two teams. Ray Palmer, his partner Anna Loring, Barry Allen, and his partner Iris West make up the rest of the team.

For once, the cameras aren't covering this portion of the show, so it's just the two of them. They’re walking to the costume department for their fitting, having submitted their costume ideas earlier in the week, when they decide to start discussing their team.

Felicity assures that both Iris and Anna are great dancers, a fact that Oliver doesn’t doubt. He’s still not a fan of Ray and likes the idea of having to share breathing space with him even less, but he decides that Barry’s not too bad.

“How old is this Allen kid again? He looks like he should still have a curfew…”

"You’re being such a brat right now."

He only grins at her.

“He’s only a year younger than me. Do I look like I should still have a curfew?” she asks, cocking her head to the side.

With a serious expression on his face, he moves in front of her and looks her up from head to toe, before answering, “... Yes.”

She smacks his arm lightly, saying, “Loser,” with a smile on her face.

Oliver winces and clutches his arm playfully before offering said arm to Felicity.

“So… Costumes?” he asks.

“Costumes,” she replies, looping her arm through his and leading him to the costume department.

-=-=-

Felicity had decided on a regular black tuxedo for Oliver and a hot pink ballgown with a skirt that was sure to billow out around her during their dance for herself. She looks in the mirror, turning around to look at the back of the dress, before turning to the head of the costume department, and nodding, indicating that this was the dress.

“Well, aren’t you just pretty in pink?” a voice calls out.

Felicity looks up and sees Helena Bertinelli smiling at her, standing on a small podium, dressed in a short and sparkling dark purple dress, arms in the air as she was being tended to by a seamstress.

“Says the purple pincushion,” Felicity snarks back.

“You wound me, Smoak. Truly. If I could press my hand against my heart right now, I would, but I fear I may stab myself.”

Felicity laughs and turns to the seamstress and says, “I just need it to be loosened up a little on the torso, it’s kinda tight,” smoothing her hands along her sides.

She nods and replies, “Okay, I’ll take care of that once I’m done with Helena’s dress,” motioning over to the other dancer.

“Alright, I’m gonna go find Oliver.”

“Poor dear probably got blinded by all the sequins and is wandering around, lost and scared and looking for you,” Helena says with a grin.

Felicity chuckles at that before saying, “Yeah, right.”

“It could be a new urban legend that we pass down to future generations on this show, is all I’m saying,” she continues.

“Goodbye, Helena…”

-=-=-

Felicity wanders through several rows of clothes before she finds Oliver in front of a mirror, dressed in black slacks and a white dress shirt. He spots her approaching in the mirror and immediately turns around, smiling at her.

“Oh…” she murmurs, eyes firmly planted on his chest.

His smile drops and he spins back around to face the mirror again, saying, “What? What’s wrong with it?”

“Nothing, nothing! It’s just…”

He turns back to her, asking, “What is it?”

“You’re wearing suspenders.”

He looks down at the apparently offensive strips of fabric holding up his pants.

“Yeah… Is that bad? I thought we were going for that... What did you call it? An "all alone after the ball" look for the waltz,” he says, hooking his thumbs around the suspenders.

She shakes her head and says, “No, we are, it’s just… Wow,” eyes still on his chest and blinking slowly.

“What?”

“I never realized that suspenders could be such a… Thing... For me, I mean,” she says, trailing off while waving her hand in the air.

“A ‘thing’?” he asks, noticing the growing blush on her cheeks.

“Yeah, like, a capital T Thing… You know? It’s a Thing.”

Ah.

He gets it now.

He knows what she’s talking about, but he’s not going to let her know that. He merely stuffs his hands in his pockets and steps off the podium he had been standing on before walking towards her.

“No, sorry, I don’t think I know what you mean,” he says, as the distance between them grows shorter.

She bites her lower lip, saying, “I mean that… I’ve seen guys wear suspenders before…”

He grins at her and replies, “In this line of work, I would assume so, yes," standing right in front of her.

“But… On you, they’re just...

"'Just'?" Oliver repeats, resting one hand on her hip and the other on her upper arm before sliding it down to her elbow.

Felicity purses her lips and curls the fingers of one hand around one suspender, pulling him even closer.

Too close, not close enough, neither of them are sure.

The hand on her hip slides up her side. Felicity's eyes flutter shut and she wets her lips before she looks back up at him.

He slowly leans in, whispering, "Felic-"

"Hey, Smoak!"

Oliver immediately takes a step away and Felicity turns around too quickly, ripping a part of her dress along her hip.

"Ah... Frak," she mutters, looking down at the tear in the dress.

Helena walks into their little area, saying, "There you are. I'm all done with my dress, so they sent me to fetch you."

"Yeah, thanks."

Helena hisses, saying, "Yikes. Guess you'll be sticking around for a while, huh?"

"Unfortunately," Felicity says with a sigh.

The other dancer tosses a half smile in Oliver's direction before raising an eyebrow at Felicity.

"You guys okay?" she asks, crossing her arms in front of her.

"Yeah. Yup. Totally fine," Felicity replies before walking back to where the seamstress was, her face nearly as pink as her dress.

Helena watches as she leaves and then turns back to Oliver, a slow grin forming on her lips.

"So I'm guessing you didn't get blinded by the sequins, huh?" she asks, still grinning at him.

Oliver's eyes widen in confusion, asking, "I'm sorry, what?"

"No, nothing."

-=-=-

Dubbed Team E=MC Hammer by Team Leader Barry, they strategically plan their routine around the paso doble, the dance that had earned the three competitors their best scores so far, with a little bit of samba tossed in for good measure.

Barry, whose lack of hip movement has been the target of the judges’ criticism, finds the samba portion of the dance a little intimidating, but it also happens to be Iris’s best dance, so that along with the fact that he's quick on his feet when it comes to picking up choreography reassures him.

Ray is completely fine with it even though he had yet to tackle the paso doble, but he insists that it won't be a problem. He and Anna had gotten decent scores on their samba in Week 4.

Thankfully, nobody notices Oliver quietly scoffing at how sure the other man sounds, earning a smack to the chest and a whispered, "Be nice," from Felicity.

Their paso doble from Week 3 remains a huge crowd pleaser and one of his favorites, so he's more than excited to revisit that dance. He has no clue what a samba is, but he's eager to find out.

God help him, he actually looks forward to dancing now.

He's pretty sure it has everything to do with the woman currently swaying next to him as she watches the other members of their team.

“Okay, so we were thinking that Iris and I would go first, Ray and Anna would go second and then Oliver and Felicity go last before we all dance together," Barry says when he and Iris share their choreography ideas.

Everyone nods in agreement.

Oliver regrets his decision immediately once he finds out what reverse samba rolls are.

-=-=-

One of the show producers, Quentin Lance, Sara’s father, tosses a suggestion to Oliver and Felicity about practicing their waltz at Queen Manor.

“I think it’s a good idea. It’ll give the viewers a bit of a glimpse into your everyday life, make them feel a little closer to you…” Felicity comments.

Oliver shrugs and says, “I’ll call my mom and see if she’s comfortable with the cameras in the house.”

Moira mentions that even if she wasn’t comfortable with it, Thea would’ve never forgiven her for passing up the opportunity and gives the go ahead.

“Neat. Oh! Maybe we can bring Roy along so he can keep Thea company?” Felicity says, clapping her hands.

Oliver groans and rubs a hand down his face.

-=-=-

When they show up for practice Saturday morning, Felicity and Roy practically need help picking up their jaws from the floor when they see Queen Manor.

“Woah…” Felicity murmurs, turning to look up Oliver, who’d just answered the door.

“I feel like I’ve seen this place in a TV show… Or a movie…” Roy says looking around the grounds before turning back to the older man, tilting his head to the side.

Oliver pats the younger man on the shoulder and shows them inside.

“So you actually have a ballroom in here?” Roy asks as they walk into the foyer.

“Well, we need somewhere for the guests to mingle whenever our mother throws a party,” Thea says, trotting down the stairs.

“Speedy,” Oliver greets, pressing a kiss to his sister’s temple.

“‘Speedy’?” Felicity and Roy ask simultaneously.

“Embarrassing childhood nickname, nothing to dwell on. So! Where are the camera people? Are we going to have to open windows for lighting, because I can find someone to get started on that."

“They’ll be here later, but we just decided to come a little early. As for the lighting, they'll tell you when they get here. They're kinda persnickety about stuff like that,” Felicity responds.

Oliver repeats the word, "'Persnickety'?" as Thea replies, “Oh, cool. Well, how ‘bout the grand tour?”

Roy stuffs his hands into the pockets of his ever present red hoodie and says, "Sounds good to me."

Felicity smiles and walks alongside Oliver as Thea takes the lead.

-=-=-

Near the end of the tour, they encounter Moira and Walter in the den and they are promptly invited, along with Thea and Roy, to sit in on Oliver and Felicity’s waltz practice.

Thea is nearly vibrating with excitement watching Felicity, Oliver, and Moira speaking with the camera crew about the windows and the lighting in the ballroom.

“I mean, it’s a little strange, considering it’s my brother practicing, but I’ve always wanted to see what goes down behind the scenes, you know?” she says to Roy as other members of the crew set up the various cameras.

“We’re very boring, trust me.”

“Yeah, right. I bet sequins go flying all the time.”

“Half the time, actually, but it’s mostly boring.”

At the sound of Thea’s laughter, Oliver turns and catches Roy smiling at her. He sighs, that smile of his a testament to how far the younger man is falling for Thea.

He feels an elbow digging gently into his side and looks down at Felicity, who grins up at him. He returns it, his hand settling on the small of her back as he leads her to the center of the room.

He remembers that the kid’s not the only one falling.

-=-=-

Halfway through the practice, Felicity and Roy end up holding an impromptu dancing lesson for Moira, Walter, and Thea. The cameras capture all the smiles and the laughter and Oliver doesn’t think he’s ever seen his family so happy.

Felicity and Roy even learn about a special skill of the Queen family.

“Archery trophies?” Roy asks, looking up at a shelf lined with them.

“Yup. Most of them are Ollie’s, but a fair number of them are mine,” Thea says, moving to stand next to him.

“Huh. You learn something new everyday…” Felicity adds, looking up at Oliver and poking his side.

“Yeah. Us Queens have wicked aim. Mom too, actually, but she’s more into guns,” Thea says, crossing her arms over her chest.

Both Felicity and Roy stiffen slightly and look at the Queen siblings with shocked faces.

Thea notices and says, “Oh, no, like skeet shooting and junk, you know?”

“Yeah, skeet shooting… Cool,” Roy says, though he mutters something about rich people and their weird hobbies under his breath.

-=-=-

They head back to the studio the next day to practice with Team E=MC Hammer and, surprising absolutely no one, Oliver still thinks that reverse samba rolls were created by the devil himself.

They're waiting for their cue as Barry and Iris go through their portion of the choreography. He's standing behind her, one hand on her arm and the other on her waist, so far, so good.

… If only she’d stop freaking rocking her hips back and forth.

The arm on her waist tightens some, pulling her closer as he says, “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

She tosses a smirk over her shoulder at him and answers him with a small twist of her hips.

He groans quietly and she laughs at his apparent misery.

God, he really hopes the camera crew keeps their focus on Ray and Anna, who are running through their part now, or are at least keeping the cameras on his upper body.

This is a family show after all.

-=-=-

Iris and Felicity are discussing the costume ideas for the team dance when the latter's phone vibrates in her pocket.

"What's up?" Iris asks.

"Oh, nothing, just Twitter stuff. I keep forgetting to turn off the notification alert," Felicity replies, quickly doing just that on her phone.

"Yeah, everyone's been saying that there's been an uptick in social media activity this season, even after they started doing that whole thing with the hashtags for the dances."

"Huh. Wonder why..." she mutters as she taps a red pen pen against the corner of the sketch pad.

Iris smirks at her friend, but chooses not to push the matter. She knows why. She'd seen the trends on Twitter and the Facebook comments on the show’s page. She shakes her head and focuses on the matter at hand.

"I guess we've got some good couples this season. Mm , so I was thinking we'd add belts to the costumes, but with a different color for each of us," she says, pointing at the sketches that Anna had given them before she had left them earlier.

Felicity takes a sip of her coffee, nodding in agreement, "Yeah, that sounds good. What color did you have in mind?"

"I was thinking red for me, like a scarlet red... Hmm... I'll ask Anna what she'd like later. What about you?" Iris asks, looking up at the other woman.

Felicity taps her pen against her chin as she thinks.

-=-=-

The ladies wait to meet their partners when the time comes to decide on their costumes. Iris suggests they pull the fan service card and recommends open shirts during for the dance, saying, “The fans have needs! You don’t want to let down the fans, do you?” with a big bright smile on her lips.

“They’ve been asking for it non-stop on Twitter,” Anna says, holding up her phone.

Ray takes his partner’s phone and thumbs through the feed before shrugging his agreement while Barry says, “No one wants to see this,” while looking down at his skinny torso, patting his stomach in concern.

“Aww, but you’re cute, Barry. You can get away with it,” Iris says, nudging his side.

He flushes and has to clear his throat before saying yes.

Oliver merely turns to Felicity for her opinion. She shrugs her shoulders and claps her hands together.

“You heard ‘em. The fans wanna see the goods,” she says, waggling her eyebrows as she gestures at him.

 

-=-=-

The day of the competition, Oliver and Felicity are the first couple to dance before the team dances.

Going with Felicity's “all alone after the ball” theme idea, they play the part of a couple dancing with each other after all the party guests are gone for the night.

Their video package includes footage of Felicity getting chastised by the seamstress for ripping part of the dress, Oliver on the side, now dressed in casual clothes instead of the tux, head ducked down and trying to hide his laughter behind a hand, earning small chuckles from the audience. When the seamstress moves away for a minute, Felicity reaches over and tugs Oliver’s cap over his eyes, causing the audience to laugh even louder

The rehearsal at Queen Manor earns more than a few heartfelt comments, the camera choosing to focus on Moira, Walter, and Thea, who were seated in the audience at the end of the footage.

The crowd is silent as Felicity walks to the middle of the dance floor in her bright pink ballgown. As she walks away from him, Oliver stays behind and removes his jacket and bow tie, leaving him dressed in the same black slacks and white dress shirt. He rolls his sleeves up his arms as he walks to her.

He places his hands on her shoulders before sliding them down her arms all the way to her hands. She leans into him for a moment before turning around to face him. The music starts and they begin their waltz.

-=-=-

On the last few notes of the song, he twirls her once and then stop in the middle of the dance floor, arms wrapped around each other. The crowd cheers and Oliver presses a kiss to Felicity’s hair, chuckling when she smiles up at him.

They walk to the judges’ table, laughing when they find Tommy grinning like a madman, Amanda as close to a smile as she can get, and Sara crying.

“That was beautiful. I have to be honest, I kind of feel bad for the couples that come up next because I think that just might be the dance to beat tonight,” she says, wiping away a tear.

When they get up to in the skybox, they receive a 29.

Oliver’s hand doesn’t leave Felicity’s the entire time.

-=-=-

For the team dance, the men wore open black dress shirts and black pants. The ladies wore black dresses. Their skirts are long and flowing with slits up the legs on both sides, made of what seemed to be silk. The upper part is black lace, dipping down the front and a swirling design on the back, leaving a good portion of skin uncovered. They also wore belts along their waists, each woman wearing a different color. Scarlet red for Iris, Anna had requested royal blue, and Felicity wore hunter green.

When he first sees the costume during the dress rehearsal, Barry has to tap Oliver on the arm multiple times to get his attention.

When she changes into the costume after their waltz, he tries very hard to keep his eyes off Felicity's legs as they wait to be called up, he really does.

He fails spectacularly, but it's the thought that counts…

Maybe.

"Why are your costumes always so elaborate and ours are so simple?" he asks, trying to start a conversation in order to focus on anything other than Felicity’s legs.

Which he is currently looking at.

She turns to him and catches him quickly looking back up at her.

She raises an eyebrow and crosses one leg over the other, showing a decidedly unfair amount of thigh, asking, "Would you like to me request a sparkly leotard for you next time?"

He swallows and hopes his voice doesn't come out as strained as he thinks it will, saying, "... No."

"Hmm."

"Can you do that? Like is that actually allowed?" the look of fear in his eyes makes Felicity laugh.

She says, "Sure. Maybe not a leotard, but you are entitled to some glitter and sequins. Mm, but to answer your other question, our costumes are like this because the focus is supposed to be on us. Even with your insane abs..."

"You think my abs are insane?" he interrupts, grinning at the sight of the blush spreading across her cheeks.

Felicity clears her throat and continues, "Anyway... The costume is supposed to draw attention to me. Yes, you're the star, but it's also your job," she reaches over and places a hand on his chest for emphasis, "to make me," she does the same to herself, "look good."

He shakes his head and laughs, saying, "You think my abs are insane."

She scoffs and says, "Of course you'd focus on that."

He raises an eyebrow and stares at her. She presses her lips together before wetting them, never once breaking eye contact. She doesn't miss the way he shifts in his seat. She nudges his leg with the tip of her heel.

"Yes, your abs are insane. My eyesight might not be the best, but I'm not blind."

-=-=-

Their waltz was indeed the dance of the night, the 29 they earned being the highest score amongst the individual couple dances. However, Team E=MC Hammer still ended up losing to the opposing team by two points. They also end up eliminating Ray and Anna from the competition.

Oliver tries really hard not to be happy about him being gone, bad karma and all that.

"I mean, he was an okay dancer. He followed instruction pretty well, I guess. He talked a lot. Like, more than I do,” Felicity says around a mouthful of mint chip as they discuss the results.

Oliver doesn’t add anything, simply content to watch her from his place on the couch.

She sighs, saying, “Hmm… Was that mean?” tapping her spoon against the bowl.

“No, you’re just being honest. He did talk a lot,” he says, taking her bowl and standing to move to the kitchen to refill it.

"Besides, if that's you being mean, I'd hate to see you when you're nice," he calls out from the kitchen.

“Don’t encourage me,” she says, bumping her feet against the coffee table.

He comes back with a full bowl of ice cream and a sweet smile on his face. He doesn’t say anything and she doesn’t need him to. She gives him a smile of her own and takes the bowl from him before turning on the couch to face him as he takes his seat.

"The other team probably won because they had Floyd Lawton with them. He's Amanda's favorite because they're totally doing it," she mutters as she eats other spoonful of ice cream, wincing immediately after accidentally biting into it.

"Wait, what?"

"... I shouldn't have said that. Just forget you heard that," she says, waving her spoon for emphasis.

Oliver laughs, saying, "Whatever you say, Felicity."

“It’s kinda funny, like, not even your abs saved us. Stuff like that usually works,” she says, spooning some more ice cream into her mouth.

Oliver barks out a laugh at that.

She shrugs, saying, “Oh well, we can always try again next dance.”

He props his arm up on the couch and leans slightly forward, teasing, “Felicity, if you want to see me shirtless again, all you have to do is ask.”

“Shut up. Don’t tell me that because I assure you, I will take full advantage of that.”

Her head snaps up as soon as the words are out of her mouth and she drops her spoon, “Oh my God, I shouldn’t have- Ugh, I’m sorry,” pressing one hand to her forehead.

“Felicity…”

She looks back up at him at the sound of his voice. He keeps his face flat, doesn’t give her the slightest hint of what he’s thinking until she looks at his eyes.

He wants her to take advantage of his invitation.

He wants her.

-=-=-

Everything comes to a head during Week 8. They only have one dance to learn, but it’s a heavy one.

"We really need to nail this one, Oliver. We’ve got a guest judge and we’re dancing the Argentine tango. It’s Amanda's favorite dance and I don't know about you, but I don't want to be on the receiving end of one of her disappointed looks," Felicity tells him.

He scrunches his face up and nods, knowing exactly which look of Amanda's she's talking about. It's up there with the look on his mother's face after he'd done something stupid when he was younger.

"Right, gotcha."

-=-=-

They find out pretty early on that they're going to be the last couple to dance the night of the competition, so the pressure is on to make everything perfect.

They work on the choreography until it is perfect. They make sure that it fits the music perfectly. They come up with the perfect costumes.

Halfway through the week, disaster strikes.

Felicity, by some cruel twist of fate, injures her shoulder during rehearsal. Oliver misses one step and accidentally trips her, sending her to the floor, landing hard on her shoulder.

Oliver’s scared and angry at himself for getting her hurt.

Felicity’s in pain, but mostly disappointed that this just might mean that she won’t be able to help him win the competition.

The camera crew’s not allowed in the room when they’re treating her, but they’re still able to catch some audio.

“Hey, no, none of that. You are more important than this, you hear me?” he tells her.

“You sure?” she asks, her voice timid.

“Of course. As long as you’re okay, that’s all I care about.”

They don’t film Oliver lovingly bumping his forehead against Felicity’s.

They also don’t film the kiss he presses against it immediately after.

-=-=-

"I can't put my finger on it, but I can't help but feel like there's something missing from the routine. Like, it doesn't feel complete to me, which is ridiculous because, for all intents and purposes, it is, but... Mm," Felicity says a couple of nights later as she crumples up a burger wrapper.

They're in her townhouse tonight, sitting on the floor in front of her couch, a dinner tradition she shared with her mother, surrounded by takeout bags as they go over minor details here and there for the dance. Her shoulder is still pretty tender, but they manage to work around it.

"Hmm..." he hums as he takes a sip from his soda.

"What?"

"... No, it's uhh... It's dumb."

"No, what is it? I'm open to any and all suggestions," she says, pushing the bags aside in order to shuffle closer to him.

"I'd rather not incur your wrath, thanks," he shoots back, stuffing a few chili fries into his mouth.

"Oliver, come on. I promise I won't get angry."

He can already tell he’s going to regret suggesting this.

"Maybe you should kiss me."

Felicity's so quiet, he thinks he can hear the crickets chirping outside.

She sputters and says, "What, like, now?"

He only has a second to stop himself from saying, "Sure."

"No, I meant at the end of the dance. That one lift at the end, when I bring you back down, instead of just staring at one another... You kiss me."

Felicity stays quiet.

“I mean… The few times I’ve caught glimpses of the show when Thea’s watching, there’s usually at least one dance where the couple kisses and… I don’t know, it seems to work out pretty well for them, so I was thinking…”

He closes his eyes and thinks he’s made a huge mistake. He looks at her and sees that she's standing up. She’s smiling softly at him and holding out a hand to him. He takes it and she pulls him up. She bends down and picks up their drinks to place them on a nearby table and then pushes the bags to the side.

Oliver watches as Felicity grabs her phone from the couch and taps on the screen a few times. The song they’re dancing their Argentine tango to starts playing from the speaker. She drags her finger along the screen, skipping most of the song before reaching the last minute and a half before the end.

“We start from the last lift,” she says, placing her phone back down on the couch and takes his hand, moving them into the hold.

-=-=-

The actual day of the competition, there’s only one dance for each of the couples since the guest judge, Shado, is a singer and dancer and has numerous performances throughout the show. Felicity, thankfully, doesn’t have to dance with the troupe, so she and Oliver use their spare time to practice the end of their dance, though they decide to keep the actual kiss for the actual performance.

They practice the dance up until the part where they’re supposed to kiss. Felicity gets even closer than she had during their paso doble.

During one last practice, she murmured the word, “Perfect,” so close to his lips, it took everything Oliver had in him to not erase the microscopic bit of space between them and press his mouth to hers.

Instead, they wait it out and decide to take a little time to tease their fans on Twitter.

 **Oliver Queen** @oliverjq 8m  
Twitter! Tonight, @felicitymsmoak and I tango, Argentine style!! Also, stuff’s going down.

 **Felicity Smoak** @felicitymsmoak 8m  
Make sure you watch for a little surprise from us tonight #Olicity #DWTS

 **Thea Queen** @QueenT 5m  
@oliverjq @felicitymsmoak IF YOU GUYS KISS @KingT OWES ME MONEY

 **Tommy Merlyn** @KingT 5m  
@oliverjq @felicitymsmoak IF YOU GUYS KISS I OWE @SaraDLance MONEY

 **Sara Lance** @SaraDLance 4m  
if @oliverjq and @felicitymsmoak kiss drinks are on me tonight babe @agnyssa

The fans practically foam at the mouth.

-=-=-

Felicity, curled hair gathered into a bun and wearing a sparkling purple lace dress that ended mid-thigh, walks down the stairs leading to the dance floor. Oliver, in a black suit, is at the bottom of the stairs, his hand extended to her. She takes his hand just as the music starts.

They dance a lovely and seamless Argentine tango, displaying proper technique and an almost absurd amount of heat. The audience remains surprisingly silent the entire dance, the only sound being the house band performing the song.

When the music reaches a certain point, she jumps and draws one dark stocking clad leg up against his hip while the other wraps around him, the move made easy due to the slits in her dress. He lifts her higher and they spin once, twice, before they come to a stop in time with the music. Felicity slides down the length of Oliver’s body, nearly falling into a split at his feet. He pulls her back up before he twirls her out.

Oliver pulls Felicity back to him. She hitches her leg up to his hip again, only this time, his hand comes to rest on her thigh. As the singer croons the last lyric of the song, Felicity cups Oliver’s cheek before she presses her mouth to his. His hand comes up behind her head to pull her closer.

The kiss lasts 10 seconds.

The audience roars.

-=-=-

When they go to receive their comments from the judges, Tommy glowers at the two of them as he makes a show of producing five $20 bills from his pocket before handing them to a smug Sara, who promptly fans herself with it.

“Wow, that was amazing,” Shado says, clapping her hands.

Tommy removes his jacket, saying, “Way to turn up the heat, you two. Has anyone checked the cameras? Are they okay? Because I’m pretty sure some may have exploded.”

“God, you guys are great. This is Week 8, so it’s basically make it or break it time and you just consistently improve again and again. If you aren’t in the finals, there’s no justice in the world,” Sara adds, shaking her head.

Amanda is smiling.

Amanda.

Freaking.

Waller.

Is smiling.

With teeth.

“It was wonderful. Well done, both of you,” she says, nodding at both of them.

-=-=-

Up in the skybox, the other couples are hollering, congratulating the two of them on a job well done.

“You guys, I’m pretty sure if you didn’t blow up the cameras, you blew up Twitter. #OlicityKiss is trending worldwide right now,” the co-host says, holding up her cellphone.

“That’s amazing,” Felicity says, peering at the screen.

“It is amazing, that was an amazing kiss. So uhh, any chance we’ll see another?” she asks, waggling her eyebrows suggestively.

Oliver and Felicity look at each other and laugh.

“No, that was strictly a one-time thing,” he says, shaking his head.

“Yeah, just the one time,” she replies.

“Booo… Okay, time to get the judges’ scores.”

-=-=-

Their Argentine tango earns them a 40 that night and unless Armageddon happens in the next week, they’re a shoe-in for the semi-finals.

Oliver’s in his apartment, looking at his phone while he lounges on the couch. He’s scrolling through his Twitter feed, chuckling at some of the #Olicity tweets Thea retweeted for his benefit. He flat out guffaws when he sees a picture of Sara and Nyssa on Instagram, raising the drinks that “@oliverjq and @felicitymsmoak paid for” toward the camera.

There’s a knock on his door and he nearly drops his phone on his face. He manages to catch it and checks the time, seeing 10:39 PM on his phone.

He stands and starts walking to the door before taking a slight detour to his room to grab a shirt. He’s in the middle of putting it on and walking to the door when the person knocks again.

"Hi," Felicity says when he finally opens the door.

"Hey. What's going on?" he asks, eyebrows drawn down in confusion.

"We need to talk," she replies as she walks into the apartment.

Oliver screws up his mouth as he closes and locks the door, knowing that nothing good can come after those words.

He can hear Felicity pacing in the living room, judging from the sound of her flats shuffling on the floor.

"What did you want to talk about?" he asks, walking toward her slowly.

She plays with the sleeves of her long purple sweater, the ends of which go over her hands. She wets her lips and looks up at him.

"Are we really going to ignore it? The kiss, I mean."

Oliver opens his mouth to speak, but Felicity continues on, saying, "I know we've been joking around a lot, but..."

"'Joking'?" he mouths quietly.

"We can't just sweep it under the rug, you know?" Felicity shakes her head, continuing, "We kissed. Us kissing is a thing now. It's a thing that everyone, and I mean everyone, saw."

"Thea texted saying it’s still trending on Twitter and that she's seen a few... I don't know to pronounce this, .gifsets? On Tumblr? Whatever that is..."

“You’re not helping, Oliver. I just… I know we laughed it off and said it was just a one time thing, but I don't-" she stops with a gasp before turning around, keeping her back to him.

He looks up at that, eyes wide at the realization of what she was about to admit. He feels a smile forming on his lips.

"You don't what?" he asks as he walks over to her, stopping directly behind her.

"I don't..." she swallows, before turning around to look at him.

He frames her face with his hands. One of his thumbs teases the corner of her lips.

"I don't want it to be just a one time thing," she murmurs.

Her eyes catch his before leaning into one of his hands, her lips softly brushing the skin of his wrist, and she whispers, "I don't want to sweep it under the rug… I need to know if you brought up the idea to kiss because you thought it would be good for the show or because you… Because you wanted to kiss me.”

He closes his eyes for a second or two, opens them and steps even closer, turning her head back to face him before pressing his forehead against hers.

"I wanted to kiss you," Oliver tells her, his voice impossibly soft.

Felicity keeps her eyes closed and takes a deep breath. She places a hand on his hip, her fingers idly grasping the material of his shirt.

“I have wanted to kiss you for weeks now. I have dreamed of kissing you, but I wasn’t sure what you wanted…” he admits, brushing his thumbs along her cheeks.

“I wanted you,” she whispers.

“I see that now,” he smiles.

He watches her carefully, not sure what to do next. His hands drop to her shoulders and he leans in, ready to kiss her, when she asks, "Are you sure?”

“More than sure,” he answers.

Felicity sighs and for a split second, he thinks she's going to push him away when she grabs the front of his shirt and lifts herself up to press her lips to his. Her glasses bump against his face, but neither of them care.

Oliver's eyes slip closed when their lips touch. He groans lightly when he feels her tongue flick at his lower lip. His hands gently squeeze her shoulders before sliding up to cup her cheeks.

She makes an appreciative sound before pulling away, saying, "This is probably the worst time to mention that I really like it when you do that."

"Do what?"

She mirrors his gesture, saying, "The cheek cupping thing. It's like something out of a cheesy romance movie,” before removing her hands from his face and pressing them against his chest.

He laughs and says, "You're really comparing us to a cheesy romance movie?" rubbing his nose against hers.

"I could've gone with cheesy teen romance novel," she replies, winding her arms around his neck.

"Slightly better," he says, kissing her once more.

She smiles against his mouth. He chuckles and then bites gently at her lip. She moans quietly and slides her fingers into his hair. One of his hands runs down from her neck to land at her hip, gripping it gently.

Felicity opens her mouth, about to say something, when Oliver takes his chance and slides his tongue alongside hers. She pulls lightly at his hair, rolling her hips up to meet his. He groans again and places his other hand on her hip.

She moves back and says, "I don't know about you, but I think we should continue this somewhere more comfortable."

She feels him grow harder when she rolls her hips once more, smiling into another kiss. His hands leave her hips and both grab a handful of her ass, pulling her to him. She hums at the feeling of him pressed against her.

"Where?" he asks, pushing his hips forward.

"Mmmm... Couch," she kisses him, "The island in your kitchen or your bedroom," another kiss, "I'd even take the floor."

She kisses him one more time, long and deep and wet, before moving back slightly and looking up at him. She pulls her sweater off to reveal a matching purple tank top underneath. He smiles down at her and smooths down the hair on her head that was ruffled when she pulled her sweater off.

He's aware that he's seen her in less thanks to the costumes she wears on the show, but damn if seeing her in a pair of tight black jeans and purple tank top with just a hint of what looked like black silk peeking through the side doesn't make him harder than he already is.

Felicity takes his hand and walks toward his bedroom, pausing for a moment to remove her shoes and set them to the side.

Oliver stops them momentarily to turns off the lights in the living room and stops when Felicity pauses at the doorway. He leans against it, smiling at her.

"What's going on in that head of yours?" he asks.

She smiles and says, "Nothing really. I'm just thinking about how I've been wanting this to happen for a while."

He grins at her and she continues, "Tone the ego down, buddy."

"How long is 'a while'?" he asks, stepping closer to her.

"Hmm... I don't know if I want you to know."

"Please?"

She pecks his lips and says, "The switch up, probably."

"Is that so?"

"Mm-hmm. I realized how much I missed you when we had to dance with other people. I felt a little silly, like, maybe I shouldn't have felt like that, but..." she trails off, motioning with her hands.

He shakes his head and says, "I did too, you know? I felt... Like it was all just happening too fast, that I shouldn't feel like this about you after such a short amount of time. But I don't think I care. Is that okay?"

She smiles at the slightly nervous look on his face and nods, saying, "More than okay," before kissing him again.

"Good," he says against her mouth, pulling her to him.

She rests her hands on his hips, saying, "Now that we've gotten that out of the way..." before pulling up his shirt and tossing it behind him, leaving him only in a pair of dark gray sweatpants.

She places both hands on his chest and runs one down to his abs, earning a light groan from him, saying, "Wow... What do I have to do to get you to wear only these for like, the rest of the century?" as she tugs at the drawstring, nearly brushing a finger against the tent in his pants in the process.

He looks to the side and narrows his eyes as he considers her words. She leans forward and presses a kiss against his jaw. The hand she kept on his chest starts trailing slowly down until it joins the other at the waistband of his pants.

"You can kiss me again," he says, "Or take off your shirt," the second suggestion makes her laugh, "Really, I'm not picky," he says with a smirk.

"How does both work for you?" she asks, lifting her shirt over head before letting it fall to the floor.

She presses her mouth to his, her hand cupping his jaw and pulling him closer. He hums and lifts her up, urging her to wrap her legs around his waist. As he walks them to his bed, he reaches up, fingers spreading across her lower back. They trail up her spine before meeting her bra.

"Is this okay?" he asks against her mouth as he lays her on the bed.

She nods and moves her own hands behind her to undo her bra. Oliver fingers the straps on her shoulders before pulling them down and removing it altogether to reveal her breasts. He stares at them a second too long, causing Felicity to tip his head back up with a finger under his chin. She laughs and moves backwards on the bed, laying her head down on his pillows.

He has the decency to blush at his actions before she begins unzipping her jeans. She starts to wiggle out of her pants when she notices that he's joined her on the bed. He helps get her jeans the rest of the way off her legs, leaving her in her panties.

He settles between her legs and runs a hand from her calf all the way up to her thigh before leaning forward and pressing a kiss to her neck. She sighs when he sucks at her pulse, arching up against him. His hand comes up and palms at her breast, rolling a nipple between his fingers. She scores his back with her nails when she feels him bite gently along her neck.

He hisses in response and she tries to apologize when he shushes her, whispering, "It's nothing," into her ear before tugging at her industrial piercing with his teeth.

Felicity moans and rocks against him, feeling his cock against her. The hand that had been squeezing her breast moved down her stomach to cup her through her panties. She feels him grin against her collarbone, knowing that he feels how wet he's making her.

She pulls him back up, kissing him hard. His hand continues teasing her through her panties when she lifts a foot up and starts pushing his sweatpants down his hips.

She's panting against his mouth, saying, "If you don't get these off and find a condom, I'll-"

He freezes at her words and he looks up at her.

“I… I don’t-”

“Are you kidding?”

“I wasn’t exactly planning on getting laid during the competition, Felicity…”

She lightly smacks his arm and lies back. He lays his head down on her chest, trying to come up with their next course of action.

Felicity beats him to it.

“Well… Good thing there’s ways to get around that,” she says, slipping her hand into his pants.

He moans against the curve of her breast as she wraps a hand around his cock. He can’t help but think of all the times he’s imagined her hand on him in the shower, in his bed, and the reality is so much better. He removes her hand from his pants and instead slides his own down her stomach to dip beneath her panties. She moans when his fingers start teasing her folds.

She hums and starts rocking against his hand, saying, “Oliver, I need-”

He runs the flat of his tongue along one nipple, saying, “What do you need?”

She pulls his head up and away from her breast, saying, “I need you to hurry up. _That’s_ what I need.”

"Aren't you always telling me that patience is a virtue?" he asks, drawing a gasp from her when his thumb circles her clit.

"N-no… Who the hell said that? They’re incredibly wrong... Wrong, wrong, wrong," she says, panting as he continues to rub at her.

Once his fingers start picking up the pace, it’s not long before she comes, chanting his name and the word, “Fuck,” over and over.

He groans and damn near comes when she says that.

“Oh… They're also misguided... Very very misguided…” Felicity mutters, running her fingers through Oliver’s hair.

He laughs into the space between her breasts and looks back up at her, saying, “You’re just calling yourself misguided, you do realize that, right?”

“Shut up.”

He laughs again and presses a kiss to her collarbone before reaching back up and kissing her lips.

"Has anyone ever told you how demanding you are?" he asks, kissing her one more time before trailing his mouth down.

"Oh, I'm demanding?"

"Mm-hmm," he says, "But I like it," his words garbled by his tongue on her nipple.

She gasps and laughs before one of her hands slides through his hair, saying, "I'm glad."

"I like a lot of things about you," he says against her stomach before he goes even lower and mouths at her through the silk covering it, "I like you."

He’s pretty sure he’s well past ‘like’ at this point.

Felicity cries out his name and grinds up against his mouth. Oliver sits up and pulls her panties down, leaving wet kisses along her skin as he does.

When his tongue laps at her, she gasps and cries out for him again.

-=-=-

The room is tinged in light blue, the sun still in the process of rising.

Oliver wakes up first, blinking his eyes open. He looks up and sees that his head is resting on Felicity’s stomach. He smiles when he hears her softly snoring .

He pulls her a little closer, holding her like he doesn't want her to leave ever.

That's probably what he has in mind, if he's being completely honest with himself and fuck if the idea of her never leaving this bed doesn't put a smile on his face.

She stirs then, groaning softly at being roused from her sleep. With a yawn, she sits up, staring down at him with a wide smile on her lips. He smiles as well, pushing upwards to press a kiss to her mouth.

"Good morning," he whispers against her lips.

"Mmm... Good morning," she replies, scratching her fingers along the stubble on his jaw.

He continues to kiss her as she says, "You know, as much as I would love to do this again..."

"And again," he continues for her as he moves to kiss her jaw, "And again and again..."

She whimpers lightly against the crown of his head as he presses kisses along her neck and says, "We should probably get ready and head over to the studio."

He pauses his kisses, but doesn't move to look at her, saying, "Felicity, believe me when I say that I am completely willing to drop out of the competition if it means I get to stay here in this bed with you," words muffled against her shoulder.

"Oliver," she whispers, feeling him already half-hard against her.

He pulls away and looks at her, a grin on his lips as he says, "Say it again."

Felicity laughs and kisses him one last time, "Ol-iv-er," drawing out the syllables of his name before moving away from him.

She finds her glasses on the bedside table and puts them on, dropping the sheet as she stood from his bed.

"Felicity," he starts before he is silenced by her finger against his lips.

"I have to go get ready at my place and then I'll meet you at the studio."

She walks around the room, gathering her clothes from the nearby chair where’d she’d folded and left them during the night. She tugs on her jeans as he moves to the edge of his bed. He sits quietly, watching her remove the white t-shirt he’d been wearing before their encounter. After they’d cleaned up, she picked it up and wore it to bed.

As she puts her bra back on, his attention is brought to a couple of marks he'd left on her neck and even a couple he'd left on her shoulder blades when they’d started fooling around a second time and feels himself growing even harder at the memories.

Oliver groans and sits back down on his bed. Felicity turns and looks at him. Her eyes instantly drop down to see his erection straining against his pants and she walks toward him, a grin on her lips as she slips her tank top back on.

"How do you manage to make putting clothes on sexy?" he asks, causing her to giggle lightly at the growl in his voice.

She wraps his shirt around his neck and pulls him to her, saying, “Anyone ever tell you you’re adorable when you’re half asleep?”

“No,” he says with a laugh.

She presses a kiss against his mouth, saying, “Well, you are very adorable when you’re half asleep.”

"I’m not half asleep,” he mutters, nuzzling at her face.

“If you say so,” she replies, ruffling his hair.

Oliver looks up at her, smiling softly. He reaches up and pushes a lock of her hair behind her ear, saying, “I don’t want you to go.”

Felicity smiles and presses her forehead against his, saying, “I don’t want to go either, but we have to meet the camera crew at the studio in an hour and a half..."

He groans and stands up, saying, “Fine. You get going and I’ll meet you later.”

She cups his jaw and whispers against his mouth, "Maybe you should pack an overnight bag so we don't have a repeat of this at my place."

"Overnight bag?" He asks, raising an eyebrow.

The expression on Felicity's face drops and she sputters, saying, "I mean, you know, if you want to. You don't have to if you don't want to. Umm... I..."

She's adorable, he thinks. The nervous way she's looking at him right now brings a smile to his face.

"I want to, Felicity. If you'll have me," he says, taking one of her hands and pressing his lips to her knuckles.

"Okay."

"Good."

"Only if you're sure."

"Oh, I am very, very sure."

She smiles, prompting him to lean forward and kiss her again. She returns his kiss shortly before reluctantly pushing him away.

"I'll let myself out. You go jump in the shower and I'll see you in a bit," she says, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek.

Oliver stands up from the bed as she gathers the rest of her things. He takes his shirt from around his neck and removes his underwear and sweatpants, tossing them and the rest of his clothes in the nearby hamper before moving to the bathroom.

"Oh, and Oliver?" he hears Felicity call out.

He pokes his head out the door in time to see her putting on a blue flannel shirt over her tank top.

 _His_ blue flannel shirt, to be precise.

"It's too warm for a sweater this morning, so I'm stealing this," she says, grinning at him before slipping out the door.

He leans against the bathroom door, muttering a breathless, "Fuck..."

-=-=-

Their next two dances are the Tango, which Felicity thinks is a little funny, considering they had just finished dancing an Argentine tango, and Contemporary. Contemporary was what Felicity had danced with Ray during the Switch Up and a very immature part of Oliver hopes that, despite being eliminated from the show, Ray is still tuning in so he can show him how it’s done.

Felicity, knowing very well what her partner is thinking, gives him a look, silently telling him to behave. He innocently smiles back and she can’t help but laugh.

He hears a member of the camera crew whisper to the person next to him that their “psychic bond is even scarier now.”

-=-=-

“So. Lifts?”

“What about them?”

“How strong are you?”

“Pretty strong, I think. I lifted you pretty easily last night, didn’t I?”

“Please, that was a baby lift. These are mommy and daddy lifts.”

“Are those official names?”

“No, but it’s 7 AM, the coffee hasn’t really started hitting me, and I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

“Huh... Is that so?”

“Very much so.”

“Any particular reason why?”

“If you must know, there was a dog involved. Barked a lot. Suuuuper needy.”

-=-=-

Oliver attempts to get her back for the dog comment when they head over to the costume department later that day.

He gets her alone in one of the dress aisles and presses her up against a wall, still mindful of her shoulder, saying, “‘Dog,’ huh?”

“Shut up, it was all I could come up with on the spot,” she mutters.

He presses his lips to hers, fingers slipping down to the buttons of the shirt she’d borrowed from him.

“Mmm, Oliver, as… Unbelievably hot as this would be… Someone will find us,” she whispers in his ear.

He moves back and looks down at her, “You sound like you’re speaking from experience.”

“I am.”

“Really?”

She rolls her eyes, saying, “I was the finder, not the findee.”

“Huh.”

“Twice.”

He squints and then breaks out into a grin, asking, “Who?”

“That’s classified information.”

He laughs and says, “Oh, now I need to know.”

“No, you don’t.”

“I want to be privy to dance troupe gossip too."

Felicity laughs and kisses him.

-=-=-

Oliver calls Dig Friday evening as he’s packing clothes and various toiletries into a duffle bag, saying, “John, hey, I need a favor.”

_“Uh-oh.”_

“What?”

_“You only call me John when we’re having some big emotional moment or if you’ve gone and made a mess of things.”_

“Neither of those is happening. I just need you to keep an eye on my apartment for the weekend.”

_“Yeah, no problem, man. You staying at the manor or something?”_

“Or something.”

_“... You didn’t.”_

“What?”

_“You and Ms. Smoak?”_

“... No.”

_“Oliver.”_

“No…”

_“Listen, Oliver, you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine, but for what it’s worth, I approve.”_

“Wait… What?”

_“Yeah. No offense man, ‘cause you’re like a brother to me and I love you, but you’ve lost that semi-permanent stick you’ve had up your ass since you joined this show and I think it has something to do with her.”_

Oliver’s silence tells Dig all he needs to know.

“Thanks, John… I think,” he says a few seconds later.

The older man chuckles and says, _“Sure thing.”_

-=-=-

Felicity sends Oliver a text a few minutes before he arrives at her townhouse, saying, “Hey, I’ve kinda got my hands full so if you get here before I’m done, my spare key’s taped underneath my mailbox,” and another that says, “btw isn’t that a great place to hide a key? I stole the idea from Iris. Or her ex. Details…”

He takes a second to laugh at her texts before he steps out of his car with his overnight duffle and a few bags from the nearby grocery store.

He finds the key rather easily and unlocks the front door, saying, “Felicity?”

“Hey, give me a second, okay?” she calls out from somewhere towards the back of her home.

“Yeah, sure,” he says, placing his duffle bag near the couch.

He removes his jacket, hanging it on the hook near the front door and removes his boots. He grabs the grocery bags, and takes them into the kitchen, setting them on the counter by the stove when he hears footsteps behind him.

“Hey, so, I know you put me in charge of the food, so I figured I’d cook instead of getting take out,” he says, taking out various items from the bags.

“You can cook?” she asks.

He turns around to find Felicity leaning against the counter on the other side of the kitchen, golden hair loose and arms folded across her chest, still wearing the blue flannel shirt she stole from him earlier that day…

And what looked like absolutely nothing else underneath.

“Uhh, I’m uhh... I’m fairly decent… At cooking, I mean,” he says, haphazardly shoving the bags away.

“Really?” she asks, stepping forward, the fabric of the shirt swishing lightly against her thighs.

“Yeah,” he replies, swallowing as his eyes follow the movement of the shirt.

He reaches for her when she gets closer. She dodges his hands and pushes him back against the counter. His hands settle on her hips, trying to pull her forward, but she doesn't let him. She reaches between them and palms him through his pants, huffing out a laugh when she hears him groan out her name.

She leans forward, one hand on his shoulder and the other undoing the button and zipper before reaching into his pants and around his cock. She strokes him at what he thinks is much too slow a pace, so he bucks against her hand. She gets the message and strokes a little harder, a little faster, thoroughly enjoying the sounds he's making.

"This is going to make dance practice really hard, y'know?" she says, mouth moving against his neck, teeth lightly biting at his pulse.

"Don't- Don't say 'hard'," he groans, practically thrusting into her hand.

She removes her hand from his pants, but continues to grind against him. He moans her name, one of his hands pulling her closer. She sighs and kisses him again, tugging at his bottom lip.

She presses another long kiss to his lips and then pulls away, smiling when he chases after her with his mouth. The fingers that had been digging into his shoulder were now pressing against his lips. He flicks at them with his tongue.

"Felicity..." he pants against her fingers before she moves away.

He’s leaning against the counter, breathing hard. She reaches up to the top buttons of the shirt and starts undoing them one by one.

Oliver surges forward when Felicity gets halfway through the buttons and scoops her up. She shrieks, wrapping her legs around his waist.

“Oh yeah, now that I’ve experienced this multiple times, I can say, without hesitation, that you’ll definitely be able to handle the lifts during the routine,” she says, raking her fingers through his hair.

“Ha. And you doubted me,” he says smugly, walking down the short hallway that he assumes leads to her room.

She gestures for him to let her down so she can open the door to her bedroom. She pulls him in and pushes him onto her bed. She steps forward between his legs and starts pulling his shirt off of him before moving onto his pants and underwear.

She smiles down at him before hiking up the shirt, confirming his earlier suspicions that she wasn’t wearing anything else underneath, and straddling him. She takes a moment and produces a condom from the shirt’s pocket.

He laughs and takes it from her, quickly rolling it on before she has a chance to do anything.

She winds her arms around his neck, content to hold him before they do anything else. His hands rest on her hips,.

“Is it weird?” she asks.

“Is what weird?”

“This. You and me? Or the fact that I don’t think this is weird at all?”

Oliver shakes his head before saying, “Not at all,” running his hands up and down her back.

Felicity cups his face with her hands. She leans forward and kisses him softly, slipping her tongue into his mouth when he sighs into the kiss.

“You know, sometimes I worry that you’re going to come to your senses and tell me to leave,” he says when she pulls away.

She frowns, but stays quiet when he continues, “I don’t want to pressure you or anything, but… I don’t want this to end once the show’s done.”

Felicity’s mouth drops open at his words.

Oliver’s hands come to a stop at her back.

He looks down, thinking the moment is gone, when she places a finger under his chin and tilts his head back up to look at her.

“First of all, this," she gestures between the two of them, "Wouldn't have ended after the show ended... Maybe once you win, and you will if I have anything to say about it… We can… Do something? Out in public?” she asks, biting her lip.

His eyes widen with each word she says. He smiles slowly, his hands falling onto her thighs.

“Are you asking me out on a date?” he asks.

She shrugs her shoulders, “Maybe.”

“Felicity, once the show’s done-”

“And you win.”

“And we win… Would you like to go to dinner with me?”

She smiles and quickly kisses him before answering, “Yes.”

“Oh, thank God,” he mutters, pulling her in for a deeper kiss.

She moans when she feels one of his hands moving, undoing the rest of the buttons on the shirt. She moves to pull it off when he stops her, shaking his head.

“Leave it on,” he whispers, using it to pull her closer before peppering kisses across her chest.

She rolls her hips against him when he takes one of her nipples in his mouth, throwing her head back when he bites lightly at it.

“Oliver,” she murmurs, grinding against him.

He moves his lips up her neck until he reaches her mouth. He grunts against her lips when she reaches between them to grasp his cock, shifting up and guiding him inside of her. He groans and leans his forehead against her shoulder.

“What? Done already?” she teases, running a thumb along the shell of his ear.

“Not even close,” he growls as he starts to move.

She gasps and pulls him closer, his head resting against her shoulder. He continues to push up into her, mouth pressing kisses to her collarbone.

“Oliver… Oliver…” she whispers.

He’s breathing hard and his thrusts are getting a little sloppy. He pulls away slightly, calling her name.

She keeps her eyes closed.

“Baby, look at me.”

She does as he says and meets his eyes. He cups her jaw, stroking along her cheekbone before he pulls her down to kiss him, swallowing her cries as she comes.

Felicity sags slightly against him, laughing lightly because she feels like she’s floating on air.

“Oh, there’s no way it should feel this good,” she mutters.

She feels him chuckle beneath her.

“What are you laughing at, Mr. Queen?” she asks, still rocking against him slowly.

“At you, Ms. Smoak,” he answers, gripping her tightly.

She starts whispering in his ear, telling him to come. She moves back and keeps her gaze locked on his. There's a thin sheen of sweat on her brow and Oliver arches up, stuttering out her name. She leans forward and kisses him then, her name tumbling from his mouth onto her tongue as he comes.

When he's done, he falls back onto the bed, pulling her with him and breathing heavily. He can barely form words and he feels like he ran a marathon.

"Tell me something… Is this all some big elaborate scheme to seduce and eventually kill me?" he asks as she situates herself on top of him.

"Why? Is it working?" she grins, resting her chin on top of his chest.

“Possibly,” he says, running his fingers through her hair.

She giggles and replies, “No. I like you too much to do that to you.”

Oliver closes his eyes.

So she’s still at the ‘like’ stage.

It’s not ‘love’, but he’ll take what he can get.

It doesn’t stop him from whispering it against her hair when they sleep later that night.

-=-=-

Oliver can’t help but laugh when he sees that Felicity’s lunch during their rehearsal break the next day is some of the pasta he’d finally gotten around to making for her last night.

“What? It’s really good!” she says around a forkful of the sauce covered noodles.

“You’re welcome,” he says, stealing one from the container.

-=-=-

Their tango is worthy of a perfect score, but they run into a few problems with their Contemporary routine.

During the dress rehearsal earlier, Oliver had felt a little twinge in his knee and nearly dropped Felicity during one of the lifts. He’d recovered enough to dance the tango, but the twinge had come back immediately afterwards.

He stays off his feet while they wait to be called up to dance, keeping an ice pack on his knee the entire time.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Felicity asks, tugging at her fingers.

“I’ll be fine,” he smiles at her, taking his hand in one of his own.

Her smile is hesitant at best, but she nods anyway.

Oliver dances through the pain and while the judges understand, the slight stumbles cost them dearly, and lands them a 25.

They still manage to make it to the semi-finals, but it doesn't feel like much of a victory.

-=-=-

_"Hey, just checking in. Are you okay?"_

"Yeah, I'm good. How are you?"

_"I’m not the one with a bad knee, Oliver. Are you staying off it?"_

"Yes. Lyla's not letting me do anything tonight."

_"Lyla?"_

"My friend's wife. They came over for dinn- No, Andie, that's not a toy."

_"Oh… Uh, it sounds like you have a full house. I'll just head back home."_

"No! No, it's okay, you can come over."

_"I don't want to be a bother..."_

"You could never be a bother, Felicity. Come over.”

_“... Okay. I’ll be there in 10 minutes._

-=-=-

When the doorbell rings, both Dig and Lyla shoot Oliver a look when he attempts to get up from the couch. The other man goes to the door and comes back a few minutes later with Felicity right by his side.

“Ah, Felicity Smoak, John and Lyla Diggle. John, Lyla, this is Felicity,” Oliver says, pointing from his spot in the middle of the couch.

“Hi. Nice to meet you,” she says with a wave.

“It’s nice to meet you, too. Oliver’s told us a lot about you,” Lyla says, stepping forward and extending her hand.

Felicity takes it, saying, “Thanks. He’s told me a lot about you guys, too. It’s nice to finally put faces to the names, you know?”

Lyla smiles politely, earning a look from her husband. “Look at you, acting like you’re not the woman who nearly broke her phone voting for Ms. Smoak and her partner last season,” he says, crossing his arms as he teases his wife.

“Johnny,” Lyla admonishes.

Felicity laughs and blushes, saying, “Please, call me Felicity. Oliver didn’t mention that you watch the show.”

“Oh, religiously,” Dig replies, wrapping an arm around his wife’s shoulders and pressing a kiss against her temple, “It was one of the first things I learned about her when we first met while serving in Afghanistan.”

“Oliver should’ve said something, I could’ve gotten you both in to see the show,” Felicity says, looking back and forth between the couple.

Lyla Michaels-Diggle, former soldier, possible secret agent (Oliver, to this day, is still not entirely sure what she does during the day), and all around badass, lets out a rather high-pitched squeak at that, immediately covering her mouth afterwards.

Oliver never thought he’d see the day.

The conversation is interrupted by a gurgling sound, causing the other three adults to look over at Oliver, who is looking down at the source of the noise.

“And this little lady here,” Oliver says, gesturing to the child currently situated on his lap, “Is their daughter, Andrea Diggle. Andie for short… And I think she’s getting hungry.”

“Baby girl’s got her daddy’s appetite,” Lyla comments with a look in her husband’s direction as he walked back to the kitchen before walking over to the sofa to pick up her daughter to introduce her to Felicity.

“She’s adorable,” Felicity coos, wiggling her fingers at Andie, laughing when her little hand captures one of them.

“Yeah, she is pretty cute, isn’t she?” Lyla says, making faces at Andie.

“How old is she?” Felicity asks, taking a seat on the couch next to Oliver while Lyla and Andie sit on the recliner.

“3 months. She kept faking me out a week before her due date, the little troublemaker.”

“‘Troublemaker’? With that face? Naaah.”

“That’s what I keep telling her,” Dig says, coming back from the kitchen, “Dinner’s ready by the way.”

“Do you need help?” Felicity asks, standing up from the couch.

“Oh no, you leave that to us, but could you hold Andie?” Lyla asks.

“Yeah, sure,” she replies, taking the little girl in her arms.

When Lyla walks into the kitchen to join Dig, Felicity turns to Oliver with a smile. He takes a minute and looks over towards the kitchen before pulling her in for a light kiss.

“Hi,” he murmurs.

“Mm, I was wondering when you were gonna greet me properly,” she says, smiling against his mouth.

Andie gurgles happily up at the two of them. Oliver and Felicity smile down at her.

Felicity brings her finger to her lips to playfully shush her before pressing another kiss against Oliver’s mouth.

-=-=-

For the semi-finals, the remaining 5 couples are to dance a past routine chosen by the judges.

“I think I speak for everyone when I say we just want to see that kiss again,” Tommy says when the show reveals that he, Amanda, and Sara have chosen Oliver and Felicity’s Argentine tango despite it still being pretty recent.

“Huh. I honestly thought they were gonna choose our troublesome little quickstep from Week 2, but I guess not,” Felicity comments when they find out.

Oliver, however, is all too eager to perform their Argentine tango again, partly because it’s one of his favorite routines and mostly because he’s happy to do anything that involves kissing Felicity.

She still worries about his knee and he continuously reassures her that it’s not as bad as it really is.

-=-=-

Even with the pain in his knee, Oliver and Felicity get another perfect score for the repeat performance of their Argentine tango.

“‘One time thing,’ huh? Yeah, right...” the co-host says when they come up to the skybox.

Another couple is eliminated and the final four are headed to the two-night finale next week. They have their freestyle dances the first night and then they’re supposed to spend the following 24 hours to come up with a fusion of two styles they haven’t performed for the last night.

Oliver and Felicity manage to come up with a great freestyle, but have to wait for the results to find out if they’re going to perform a 24 hour fusion.

“What styles do we have left?” Oliver asks.

“Let’s see… Rumba’s one… So’s uhh… The samba,” she says, smiling slyly at him.

Oliver sends her one of his own, saying, “Good thing we worked on those reverse samba rolls, huh?”

-=-=-

The troupe has one final performance during the finale and this time, the judges are involved.

They start the show with Tommy leading several members of the troupe, including Roy and Helena, all the way from backstage to the main dance floor while performing a Broadway style routine.

When they’re done, the more technical dancers like Isabel take center stage to perform a group tango, led by Amanda and Floyd Lawton.

When they finish and the song starts building up to the chorus, Sara appears with some of the dancers from her and Nyssa’s group, The League, and they start performing a hip-hop freestyle dance, earning loud cheers from the audience before the screen goes to black.

Oliver puts down the remote and drops it down beside him on the couch. He glares at his knee, currently fitted with a brace.

A few days before the competition, while rehearsing their Freestyle routine, the pain in Oliver’s knee became too much to bear, forcing him and Felicity to drop out of the competition in 4th place.

He hears a knock at the door and groans before getting up to answer it.

Felicity is there when he opens the door, saying, “Hi.”

“Hey.”

She smiles shyly, asking, “May I come in?”

“Of course,” he answers with a smile of his own, extending his arm to her.

She immediately embraces him, pressing her face into the middle of his chest. His arms curl around her, holding her tight to him.

She pulls away from him, exclaiming, “Oh my God, come on, let’s get you back to the couch. Or… The bed? Where would you be most comfortable?”

“Uh… The bed, I guess… I’m already dressed for it and stuff,” he finishes lamely, gesturing down at his t-shirt and sweatpants ensemble.

“Okay,” she says, leading him there.

“I should probably get a spare key while you’ve got this thing on…” she comments before waving a hand, “Not that I’m asking for one, I’m just saying that it’d be convenient, so you wouldn’t have to get up and answer the door when I visit.”

He laughs quietly as she helps him lift his leg onto the bed.

When he’s settled, Oliver asks, “Felicity, why are you here?”

She pauses and blinks slowly, asking, “Do you not want me here? I can go if you want.”

He catches her hand immediately, tugging on it so she can sit on the edge of the bed, saying, “No, of course not… I… I don’t know…”

“Oliver, what’s the matter? You know you can talk to me,” Felicity says, rubbing her thumb along his knuckles.

He huffs and stares up at the ceiling, saying, “I just… I’m sorry,” turning back to look at her.

Her eyes are wide behind the glasses he’s become so accustomed to seeing during their downtime.

“We were so close and then my knee injury happened and… I wanted to win.”

“Oliver, it’s okay. They’re a few seasons away from another All Stars season and by the time that comes around, your knee should be better. You were a big fan favorite, so there’s a very good chance they’ll invite you back. I mean, I don’t know if they’ll pair you up with me again, ‘cause sometimes they don’t pair up the original partners, bu-”

“Felicity,” he interrupts, “I wanted to win _with you_ ,” lacing their fingers together.

She smiles at him, bringing her other hand up to his cheek. She rubs a finger against the ever present stubble on his jaw, saying, “You’re sweet.”

Oliver brings up their joined hands and presses a kiss against her fingers, “Maybe it’s a good thing we didn’t win. We’d never decide who gets the trophy.”

“We each get one,” she laughs.

He smiles at that, saying, “Oh, that’s great. No custody battles.”

Felicity stands and moves to the other side of the bed, removing her jacket and shoes before shuffling over to cuddle against his side, grabbing his hand and laying them on his stomach, saying, “There’s that Oliver Queen smile I know and love.”

He swears his heart stops beating when he hears that last word.

“... Or maybe... I just love Oliver Queen,” she shifts her head up to look at him.

He gasps quietly at her words before looking down at her.

She’s smiling at him when she says, “Don’t think I didn’t hear that gasp…”

She plays with the fingers of the hand she’s holding, “Or when you whispered it to me when you slept over the other week.”

“You heard that?” he asks, sitting up and pulling Felicity with him.

She looks up at him expectantly, pressing her lips together, before asking, “Are you denying it?”

The smile that slowly stretches across his face is blinding. He cups her cheeks and kisses her firmly. She wraps an arm around his back, pulling him as close as she can without hurting his knee.

“Never,” he says against her lips before kissing her again.

“Good to know,” she whispers.

He presses kiss after kiss to her face, saying, “I love you,” with each one.

She pulls away and bumps his forehead with her own, saying, “I love you, too.”

-=-=-

Oliver gets a call from Quentin, who’s taken over as showrunner, two years later, inviting him back for the show's All Star season.

He turns to pass a bag of Chinese takeout to Felicity, who immediately begins separating the different cartons on the living room floor of their townhouse, before politely declining the offer.

It’s not his fault their honeymoon happens to start the Friday before the show’s premiere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Raise your hand if you thought I was actually gonna let them win. You'd think with all the crap being done in the actual show, I'd be a little nice in the fic world, but uhh... Nah.
> 
> So that's that. I hope you all enjoyed this... Thing. This monster o' mine. 
> 
> Despite running into a bit of a roadblock (that lasted for a few months...), I had a lot of fun writing this. Mostly because wow hi yes gimme all the Olicity AUs and also because I live for rewatching old DWTS videos on YouTube.
> 
> Songs used in this part are as follows:
> 
> Waltz: Prosthetic Love - Typhoon  
> Team Dance: Dare (La La La) - Shakira  
> Argentine Tango: Gorecki - Lamb  
> Tango: Blame - Calvin Harris feat. John Newman  
> Contemporary: Moon And Moon - Bat For Lashes  
> Troupe/Judges Finale Performance: Rest Of My Life - Ludacris feat. Usher & David Guetta
> 
> And in case you were wondering what they would've performed to in the finale:
> 
> Freestyle: Gone, Gone, Gone - Phillip Phillips  
> 24 Hour Fusion (Rumba/Samba): It Was Always You - Maroon 5

**Author's Note:**

> The songs that have been used so far are as follows:
> 
> Cha-cha-cha: I Follow Rivers - Lykke Li  
> Quickstep: Out Of My League - Fitz & The Tantrums  
> Paso Doble: The Ballad of Mona Lisa - Panic! At the Disco  
> Salsa: Manos Al Aire - Nelly Furtado  
> Troupe Performance: Adrenalina - Wisin feat. Ricky Martin & Jennifer Lopez  
> Oliver and Isabel's Argentine Tango: If I Could Change Your Mind - HAIM  
> Ray and Felicity's Contemporary: I Can't Fix Us Two - Katie Costello  
> Jive: Still Into You - Paramore
> 
> Title comes from Dare (La La La) by Shakira, which is a song that's also going to be used in Part II.


End file.
